


Behind the Scenes

by thanku4urlove



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Actor!Yamada, Alternate Universe - Actors, M/M, Makeup Artist!Daiki, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, Otokogumi references, Romance, This is just a journey of fluff, if you're looking for serious plot this is not it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 14:49:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20798393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thanku4urlove/pseuds/thanku4urlove
Summary: After feeling slotted in nothing but detective roles, Yamada manages to score a lead role in an upcoming movie by the famous director Okamoto Kenichi. It was his big break--he couldn't afford any distractions.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is so pointless I SWEAR but makeup artist!daiki was an excellent idea and I still stand by that statement

Yamada flailed an arm out, trying to find the alarm clock blaring from his bedside table. He whacked it, but instead of the thing turning off it fell and skittered across the floor, shrieking in protest. Groaning, Yamada pulled himself up, tumbling out of bed and squinting around his room. The source of the noise was against the opposite wall, lying on its side, Yamada crouching when he reached it and pressing the off button a bit harder than he needed to.

The red numbers on the clock read _6:07_, Yamada realizing with a jolt why he was up so early. Today was his first day on the set for the movie THE FRONT, directed by Okamoto Kenichi. With him cast as the lead.

Now much, much more awake thanks to the nerves he could feel building in his stomach, Yamada began getting ready. He got dressed four times, trying to find the right thing to wear, buttoning his shirt up as he made his way into the kitchen.

His roommate was already gone, having to be at work at six—Yamada had lived with Okamoto Keito long enough for the twelve alarms he set every morning to not wake him up anymore—but there was a note scribbled on a napkin on the kitchen counter.

_ Good luck today Yamada! You’re going to do great. There’s still some rice, and I put last night’s dinner in the fridge if you want it. Remember; my dad’s not that scary.  
_ _ \--Keito_

He had signed the note in English letters, and Yamada smiled a little. He and Keito had shared an apartment for over a year, Yamada having found him in a newspaper ad, and while they didn’t talk much Keito was very nice. He was the one that had gotten Yamada a job in Okamoto Kenichi’s new movie, talking to his father without Yamada asking, and the display of consideration put Yamada in awe.

Yamada ate breakfast, spent entirely too long in front of the bathroom mirror, then made his way out the door. Unlike all of the other ‘first time on set’ days that Yamada had experienced, they weren’t only doing a script reading with the whole cast. Instead he had been given a page of the script to memorize, and a scene was going to be acted out with other cast members. Apparently, it was a way to get a feel for how the actors were going to respond to each other, and was something that Kenichi was well known for doing. The whole idea and how different it was made Yamada unsure of what to expect, which was a little nerve-wracking.

He arrived at the building twenty minutes early, but he didn’t feel very early at all when he walked inside. Tons of people were already there, things being set up, the entire place bustling with activity. Unsure of what to do first, he peeked into rooms until he found Kenichi, walking over.

“Yamada! Good morning.” Kenichi was all easy smiles, looking wide awake and excited. He was a top-class producer and director, so being in his presence always felt surreal, despite the fact that Yamada had already met him more than once, being his son’s roommate and all. Coming home to Okamoto Kenichi watching television in his living room had been a startling experience.

“Good morning.”

“I’m glad you got here a little early, because I’ve asked these two to show you around some before we get started. Sound good?”

As if on cue—and it could have been, they were on a movie set after all—two people appeared on each side of Yamada, flanking him and smiling. He recognized them as Yabu Kota and Chinen Yuri, two of his costars. Once the cast list had been announced he looked up everyone he was going to be working with, discovering that all of them were going to be new to him. Both Yabu and Chinen did more modeling than acting, Keito even having Chinen’s cell number in his phone. Both of them had been in their fair share of dramas though, Chinen as a kid and Yabu more recently.

“Hi!” Chinen grinned at him. “We’re supposed to be the only ones you’re going to actually meet today—we’re the only ones that are really nice to you at the start of the film, and Mr. Okamoto wants to get the characters’ dynamics right. So no talking to Yuya, or something.” He waved a hand. “Anyway, I’m Chinen Yuri, and this is Yabu Kota.”

Yabu gave him an easy-going smile, the three of them barely having stepped on set before a man ran up to them, smiling excitedly.

“Kou! Look what I can do!” He said, his grin revealing a set of crooked teeth. Then he pulled his hands from behind his back, each of them laden with weapons, and, to Yamada’s great surprise, began to juggle them. There were five guns in the air by the time Yabu spoke up.

“That’s great Hikaru but… This is Yamada.”

Hikaru’s face changed immediately to a shocked expression, one of the guns clattering to the floor.

“Yaotome!”

Hikaru winced, another man running up, almost screeching.

“If you broke another gun prop I swear to God, Jesus, Shiva, Budda, and every other deity in existence—”

“It’s not broken!” Hikaru exclaimed, picking the prop up from the floor and turning it in his hands. “I think. And the first three times were accidents, alright?”

“This is Yamada.” Yabu said again. He was trying to make the words deadpan, but he was obviously too amused to properly sell it.

“We can’t salvage it.” Hikaru said, shoving all of the guns into the disgruntled newcomer’s arms and turning his attention to Yamada. “Hi, I’m Yaotome Hikaru.”

Upon hearing his name Yamada realized why Yabu was so tense about Hikaru being there. Hikaru was going to be playing the movie’s villain, and Kenichi would doubtlessly have said for them to keep Yamada away from him. Or, at least, not for Yamada to see the excited, look-I-can-juggle-five-guns side of Hikaru that he had just been exposed to.

“And I’m Inoo Kei; I’m in charge of general set and prop design.” The man holding all of the guns said. He was looking over the gun that Hikaru had dropped, though as Hikaru said it didn’t seem to be broken. “If you need anything, you can… Actually, you probably shouldn’t come to me, never mind.”

That made all of them laugh, the voice of Okamoto Kenichi ringing through the room, amplified through a megaphone.

“Could we get the four actors in today’s scene over to hair and makeup, please?”

“That’s you.” Chinen said to Yamada, pointing behind him. “Your room is back around there, I think.”

Inoo was muttering to himself, already walking away, Hikaru following Yabu in one direction and Chinen going in another, leaving Yamada standing alone on set. He began walking in the direction of Chinen’s vague hand gesture, quite unsure of what he was to do when he got there. He must have looked as lost as he felt he was, because when he paused and glanced around, someone called out to him

“Need help?”

Yamada turned towards the voice gratefully, feeling a little apologetic.

“I don’t know where to go for makeup.” He explained. The person approaching was tall, a black-haired man with a smile on his face.

“You must be Yamada.” He guessed. Yamada nodded. “I’m Nakajima Yuto; I’ll lead you there if you want.”

“Thanks.” Yamada said, Yuto beginning to walk, Yamada taking a few steps at a jog to catch up.

“You’re not an actor, are you?” Yamada asked, not recognizing Yuto’s name or face from anywhere. Yuto shook his head.

“Nah, none of that for me. I work whatever camera they put me on, so we’ll probably be seeing a lot of each other. At least, I’ll be seeing a lot of you.”

Yamada laughed a bit, nodding, getting a smile in return. Yuto was surprisingly comfortable to talk to, and despite having just met him he already felt a bit like a friend. Knowing that he was going to be on set was a slight relief.

“Here we are.” Yuto said cheerfully. They were stopped outside a closed door, and Yamada saw his name written on a white nameplate in black lettering. “Your stylist is in there, I think.”

“Thank you so much.” Yamada said, Yuto simply nodding.

“Of course.” He answered, turning and walking back from where he had come. Yamada slowly pushed the door open, unsure of what to expect. He was met with the sight of a shorter man standing in front of a wide, well-lit mirror, carefully arranging an array of different products that Yamada was sure were all going to end up on his face at one point or another. He was looking down, face furrowed in concentration, the fluffiest brush Yamada had ever seen in his hand. After a moment he looked up, meeting Yamada’s eyes in the mirror, then letting out a groan.

“Oh no.”

“I’m sorry?” Yamada asked, walking over hesitantly. The stylist met him halfway and leaned very close, examining his face as Yamada tried his hardest not to squirm. Then he pulled back and sighed.

“You don’t need any of this, you already look perfect.” He said, gesturing to the table he had just labored over. His tone was so genuine that the remark didn’t sound like flattery, but a genuine complaint. “Come sit down though; I need to put some kind of gunk on your face so they don’t fire me for not doing my job.”

Yamada was unsure of how to respond to the indirect compliment, laughing lightly. The man motioned to the chair and Yamada sat, watching as he reexamined the makeup table.

“I’m Arioka Daiki, by the way.” He said, carefully selecting a few items, his reflection showing a face of concentration. Yamada figured that introducing himself would be useless but he did it anyway, Daiki nodding looking in the mirror to smile.

Aside from telling him to “close”, “open”, and “okay, close again” his eyelids, he and Daiki didn’t talk much throughout the process. Yamada could feel every time Daiki moved away to put something down or pick something up, his physical closeness easy to detect. Before too long, a thumb was placed under each of Yamada’s cheekbones, Daiki saying

“Alright, open your eyes.”

Yamada did, met with an extremely close look at Daiki’s face. His hair and eyes were both a dark, gentle type of brown, and his lips were parted slightly in concentration as he looked over the work he’d done on Yamada’s face.

“So, there isn’t much of a difference…” Daiki’s voice pulled Yamada out of his trance, making him avert his eyes. It was embarrassing, feeling as though he had been caught staring, though he was almost positive that Daiki hadn’t noticed. “Do you want to look in the mirror?”

“Yes, yes please.”

Daiki was right—the makeup on him didn’t majorly affect anything, just giving him a bit of an airbrushed look. He made a mental note to ask tips on how to make his eyebrows look like this again.

“Is it okay?”

Yamada nodded quickly, Daiki smiling at him and opening a drawer under the table all the makeup was on. Inside was a mess of bottles and wires, and he bent to pull out a hair straightener, clicking it open and closed a few times.

“It’s time for hair.”

They had a bit more of a chance to talk while Yamada got his hair done, Daiki’s fingers working easily with the brown strands.

“I’m thinking I should dye my hair black.” Yamada said. “That’s more spy-like, isn’t it?”

Daiki hummed contemplatively, pausing what he was doing to look at Yamada in the mirror, meeting his eyes and twisting one of his fingers around a lock of hair.

“Yeah.” He finally said. “Black would look good. I think it would suit you.”

Yamada bit the insides of his cheeks, trying not to smile, Daiki turning his attention back to the straightener in his hand. Yamada wasn’t in the chair for much longer though, Daiki piling everything on the makeup table, looking over Yamada a few times, then nodding to himself.

“You really look the same as when you stepped in here.” he said with a shrug. “But… That’s your super spy look done. Your costume is on that rack over there, and the bathroom is the door on that wall. I can fix up stuff when you get on set, but… Be careful not to mess your face up too badly.”

Yamada laughed and nodded, making his way to the clothing rack. There was only one hanger, the fabric on it black and pink and fake leather. He put the outfit on, slightly amused and ready to make a joke, but when he emerged from his changing room Daiki was gone. The makeup table had been cleaned off, things either organized in piles or set in drawers. Yamada looked at himself in the mirror, taking in the costume he had on, and the makeup on his face and the wax in his hair, reminding himself that this was the physique he was giving his character, trying to bring the person on paper to life.

He was Maeda Kouyou, a spy that was fresh out of training and being assigned to his unit. He had graduated at the top of his class, but was painfully inexperienced in how it would really look and feel to be out in the world and doing the job he had trained himself for. How well he had done thus far had put him in the most elite group the government currently had under their control, a unit under the code name THE FRONT, tasked mainly with detaining The Imposter, a dangerous man who had escaped them a few times before.

The Imposter—Hikaru’s character—wasn’t going to be in the scene they were filming today, something Yamada was slightly relieved about. He had been in his fair share of plays and movies, and his experience, along with the positive feedback he had always earned through his performances, made Yamada nervous.

Nodding to himself, Yamada let out a breath and tore his eyes from the mirror, starting in the direction of their shooting location.


	2. Chapter 2

“Yamada!”

He had barely made it out of his dressing room when someone called his name, the shout coming from somewhere on his left. Yamada turned in the direction of the noise, the stranger approaching quickly. When the other was close enough, Yamada recognized him, smiling.

“Morimoto! Hi!”

Morimoto Shintaro beamed at him, Yamada taking note of his size and sighing internally. Not only was Shintaro taller than him, but he looked broader as well; the younger actor had, naturally, been cast to play his _younger _brother. Thankfully, he did have a bit of his baby face left--a face that had landed him many acting roles and commercials when he was smaller—and Yamada was confident in Shintaro’s ability to at least act young enough to make up for his physique.

“Mr. Okamoto wanted me to find you and say hi. He’s such an amazing director; it was hard to believe I was really talking to him.” Shintaro’s expression still had a few remnants of surreal disbelief, and Yamada laughed, nodding.

“Trust me, I understand. His son is my roommate, so sometimes he’ll drop by unexpectedly.”

“He’s been in your house? Really?”

“Shin!”

The shouted nickname made both of them turn, someone else jogging over. Yamada’s eyes narrowed as soon as he got a decent look at the newcomer’s face--he had seen this young man before, he knew it, but was unable to place where.

“You left your script in the car, idiot.” A stack of stapled paper was put in Shintaro’s hands, and despite the way the greeting was worded, Shintaro just smiled, looking a little bashful.

“Thanks Ryutaro.”

Yamada was still trying to place the newcomer--what actors did he know of named Ryutaro?--when Daiki approached.

“There you are. Let me see your face.”

Yamada leaned towards him obediently, Ryutaro speaking up.

“Hello to you too, shortie.”

He was talking to Daiki, the familiarity surprising Yamada. Daiki spared a single unamused glance at him before returning his attention—and his comb—to Yamada’s head.

“Hey Ryutaro.”

“I’m sorry, but what’s your name?” Yamada finally had to ask. It was bothering him too much, and he felt like voicing the question couldn’t hurt. “I feel like I’ve seen you in something, but I can’t think of any titles.”

Ryutaro began to laugh, Shintaro giggling too while Daiki smiled and shook his head. Slightly bewildered, Yamada didn’t get an answer until after Shintaro and Ryutaro had walked away, going on ahead of them, Daiki requesting they all get over to the set.

“That’s Morimoto Ryutaro.” Daiki told him. “He’s Shintaro’s older brother.”

Though Yamada had seen some of Shintaro’s work, he had never worked directly with the young actor before now, so that didn’t really explain why he was so sure he had seen Ryutaro on screen. He didn’t have time to ask, Daiki continuing.

“I’ve done up Shintaro’s face a fair share of times before, and Ryutaro is usually there with him--he says he’s his brother’s transportation, but since he usually sticks around I think he actually does it as a way to kill time--and because he’s around so much, out of convenience he’s usually asked to be an extra, or a minor single-line character. Shintaro’s fans like to try and spot Ryutaro in all of his work, so now he has a weird sort of cult following on the internet.”

Yamada nodded, unable not to laugh. That was pretty funny, and a little incredible. The two of them reached the set, and Yamada was surprised to see three of four walls of a room, with a plastic table and fold up chairs in the center. The area was bleak, bare and lit with thin fluorescent lights. Chinen was already there, sitting at the table and reading silently over his script. Yabu was behind him, pacing and gesturing, mouthing out what Yamada assumed were his lines.

“Could all the actors in today’s test scene make their way on set? We will begin filming shortly.”

Aside from himself, there was one other person not yet there. Takaki Yuya was the fourth member of the spy group Yamada’s character was being put in, and Yamada had not yet seen him once.

He walked over, sitting across from Chinen at the table. Everybody else, from camera crew to other actors to props people, were piled in the room behind the set and cameras, Yuto catching his eye and waving.

Yamada didn’t have time to begin going through his script on his own, Takaki walking up right after he did, laughing about something with Inoo. Takaki usually played more quiet, serious, and maybe even angry characters, if what Yamada had found on his acting profile was anything to go by, and upon reading the script he saw that his character in this movie wasn’t going to be much different.

He looked friendly enough however, which was why Yamada was so surprised when, upon stepping on to the set, Takaki fixed Yamada with a particularly unwelcoming stare for an entire five seconds as he made his way to a chair against the wall, sitting and turning away.

“We’re all here. Let’s get started, shall we?”

The positioning of both the cameras and the actors began, Chinen tossing his script off set and Hikaru catching it. Takaki was told to stay where he was, handed a gun prop. Chinen sat up on the table, Yabu standing, Yamada given a chair and a manila folder. The folder was placed on the table in front of him, opened up, and a mugshot of Hikaru—or rather, The Imposter—glared up at him, the crew members shuffling off set.

“We’re going to go from when Yabu says ‘Yesterday was a bit of a disaster’ to whenever I stop you, alright?” Mr. Okamoto asked. They all gave nods and sounds of affirmation, the four of them getting ready. Takaki sat back in his chair, one hand hanging off an armrest, Yabu crossing his arms.

“Action!”

“So, that was a bit of a disaster.” Yabu fixed Yamada with a bit of a pointed look. Yamada glanced down, turning his face into something slightly frantic and apologetic as he began his line.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Hesitating the way you did was a stupid mistake.”

Takaki cut Yamada’s line off with his own two words too soon, voice low and almost threatening, and it caused him to immediately fall silent.

“Now now, nothing but a car got too seriously damaged, so let’s take that encounter as a learning experience.” Yabu said, Yamada watching Takaki roll his eyes before giving Yabu his attention. He tried to make his voice nervous, which wasn’t very difficult.

“Yes sir.”

“Here and the training compound, obviously, are very different.” Yabu continued. “Most of the time, conditions aren’t going to as ideal, or as calculated, as you’re used to. You’re not going to have all of your supplies, or be able to see things as ‘just another test’. What you do is going to have an impact, and it’s not always going to be a positive one.”

“Being able to shoot fifty targets out of fifty in a row isn’t going to matter anymore.” Takaki added dryly. The break between his line and Yabu’s was a bit too large to be natural but Takaki didn’t react to the mistake, twirling his gun nonchalantly on his index finger.

“Though it does help.” Chinen chirped, giving Yamada a little smile. Then he met Yabu’s gaze. “What?” he asked. “I don’t want to terrify the new recruit too much.”

“Neither do I.” Yabu said. “I just want you to understand—” he had turned his attention back to Yamada—“that if you’re ever wondering what the ‘right choice’ is, it’s this.” He jabbed the folder lying open on the table, his finger landing square in the middle of Hikaru’s face. “It’s not about you, or about us. It’s about the mission. Our mission.”

“Cut!”

Yabu’s tension immediately left his shoulders, his face relaxing, and Chinen giggled a little.

“Good!” Kenichi sounded very pleased. “Good. Better than I expected, to be honest. Would you guys like to watch it back?”

Chinen was the first to respond, hopping from the table nimbly as he nodded. They all crowded around and behind Mr. Okamoto’s chair, trying to get a clear look at the screen on the camera they had filmed with. As a result, Chinen was squished up against one of Yamada’s sides, Daiki on the other, and Yamada tried his best not to move. Takaki was standing behind him with Yabu, Hikaru walking up and placing his head between their shoulders. Yuto smiled as he rewound the footage, the quickly ducked out of the way.

The clip was short, but Yamada was pleased to see that while it all needed work, it wasn’t the worst first take he had ever seen. Takaki’s delayed line was more noticeable in hindsight than it had been during filming, Yamada hearing a snort of laughter from the actor himself when it happened. Once it was over, Kenichi, Hikaru, and Shintaro began applauding.

“You were really intense, Yabuchii.” Hikaru remarked, voice teasing. “Poking me in the face like that.”

Yabu hit him in the arm, his lips holding back a smile. “Shut up.”

“Could we get changed, then start the script reading?” Kenichi asked. “There’s a room set up a few doors down with a big table and snacks and drinks. Everyone has their script, right?”

Nods traveled around, Yamada surprised to see even Ryutaro holding up a thickly stapled stack of paper. They broke apart, the four in their spy outfits going to get changed out of their characters and back into their street clothes, Daiki giving Yamada makeup removal tips as they went. Once their costumes were put back on their racks, they all met up again and traveled to the script reading room in a mass. There were more new people in there: some minor characters that hadn’t been interested in watching the filming, more staff members, and even some reporters with cameras.

“They won’t be here the whole time.” Chinen told Yamada in a hushed voice, which was what he had assumed, nodding. “They’re just going to get a few pictures, and maybe ask a few questions, and then they’re going to go.”

For that, Yamada was thankful. They flocked Mr. Okamoto as soon as he walked through the door, ready to ask questions, and because of that it took a little while to actually get started. About half of the crew came into the room as well, taking chairs along the walls to watch. Daiki and Yuto had come, sitting next to each other and chatting casually, both waving when they noticed Yamada looking their way.

The reading went well. Yamada felt painfully awkward when he had long dialogue—not a rare thing, being the main character—unsure if he should try harder to put more emotion into the lines, or just read them and try not to mess up. The nerves made the phrase “relax and slow down” an common one out of Kenichi’s mouth, Yamada stopping and taking a breath before doing as he asked. Takaki stopped once or twice, stumbling over a few complex words, always corrected by a short remark from Chinen next to him.

The way Hikaru read his lines made Yamada interested to see him in action. He put on a voice for his character, one that was almost his own but not quite, complete with a sneering, mocking-type laugh. He said his lines in ways Yamada did not anticipate, reacting unexpectedly. It tripped Yamada up a little whenever they had dialogue together, and Yamada felt almost as though catching him off guard like that was Hikaru’s intention.

The process was long, Yamada having a few scenes in the middle of his own kidnapping in which he didn’t have any lines, using it as an opportunity to look around and watch others. At some point that he hadn’t noticed Daiki had moved his chair to sit right behind Ryutaro, and would poke him in the back of the head, or the ear, Ryutaro trying to be discreet as possible as he batted the hands away.

During one of Shintaro’s lines, with everyone listening, Kenichi diligently making notes on his own copy of the script, when Ryutaro let out a shout, his chair toppling over and falling to the floor with a crash.

Once it had been established that Ryutaro was not injured all eyes turned to Daiki, who was in the middle of scooting his chair back next to Yuto.

“What?” he asked, the innocence in the question obviously fabricated. Yuto, on the other hand, wasn’t even trying to be oblivious, his eyes locked on his phone as he tried not to laugh.

“Did you knock his chair over, or something?” Yabu asked.

“He did that all on his own.” Daiki responded, Yuto blurting the truth out through giggles.

“Daiki’s been… Um… Poking him.”

Yamada couldn’t help but wonder just for how long Daiki had been sitting there--they’d been reading through the script for an hour, at least.

Thankfully, instead of angry, Kenichi looked rather amused. “A break is due, I think.” he said. He stood up, stretching out his arms and letting everyone know they were stopping for a few minutes, stepping from the room. As soon as he was gone Ryutaro lunged from the floor in the makeup artist’s direction, shouting out “Arioka!” Yamada watched, amused for a few moments as Daiki laughed and jumped away, before deciding to try and approach Takaki. Despite the look the older man had given him earlier, Takaki had acted friendly with everybody else, so he couldn’t hurt to try.

The older actor did not look at him when he walked over, blatantly ignoring the greeting Yamada gave. So he simply stood there, smiling uncomfortably for a few moments, the glare he had previously received coming to the front of his mind as he wondered which course of action would be better—saying something else or aborting completely from the obviously failed conversation attempt. He was about to abandon the situation when he noticed Chinen, the small man seated to Takaki’s right and suppressing a smile.

“Chinen?”

“Since your characters take a long time to get along in the movie, Bossman didn’t want the two of you getting along either. Yuya didn’t want to be mean to you, so he’s just opted for not really saying anything.”

“Oh.” Yamada felt stupid. He knew about the dislike Takaki’s character was supposed to have for his own, but he had forgotten how much of a method director Okamoto Kenichi was.

“I’m sorry; he doesn’t hate you, I promise.”

Takaki made no indication that he agreed or disagreed with Chinen’s statement, and after a few more moments of silence Yamada walked back to his seat. Yabu was to his left, one hand flat on Hikaru’s back, watching as Hikaru mouthed over a few of his lines.

“How’s it going?” Yamada asked them.

“Hikaru’s trying to get into character.” Yabu reported. He sounded rather put out, Yamada deciding to ask

“Is that not a good thing?”

“Well, sometimes it takes him a while to get out of character too, and I live with him, so when he’s playing… I don’t know, murderers that don’t shave, for instance—” Yabu waved a hand vaguely, Yamada deciding not to ask about the example “—sometimes he’s not as fun to live with. It doesn’t make him very… Snuggly.”

“Smile!” Came a shout from across the table, Yamada glancing over and immediately being blinded by a camera flash. Yuto peeked out from behind the lens, smiling with a slightly devious expression. He looked down to see the photo he had taken, a shocked look taking over his features before he began to laugh.

“You caught us off guard; of course that photo is terrible.” Yabu said. “Let me see.”

He extended his hand, Yuto passing the camera across the table to him.

Yabu was squinting from the flash, Yamada looking like a noseless deer in the headlights. Hikaru however, looked fine, a million dollar smile on his face with his hand shaped into an enthusiastic thumbs up. Hikaru didn’t look up from his script as Yabu exclaimed at him, trying to show him the picture, but his shoulders were shaking in silent laughter.

“Are we ready to start back up?” Kenichi asked, reentering the room. Everyone nodded and moved quickly to their seats, and once Daiki had moved--and kept--his chair away from the back of Ryutaro’s head, the script reading was finished without further distractions. Kenichi was extremely pleased.

“While we were on break I emailed all of you a schedule for the following weeks.” he said. “Please stick to that unless otherwise indicated. The ball gets rolling early tomorrow morning, so be ready! Good work today everyone.”

After that was a dismissal, Yamada pulling out his phone to check what it was Kenichi had sent out. The start time wasn’t as bad as Yamada had expected, but the day would doubtlessly be long and taxing. They were easing into earlier and earlier start times, finally settling into five-thirty a.m. being the report time for hair and makeup. Yamada didn’t mind though; he’d had worse.


	3. Chapter 3

It was early evening when he got home, surprised to see Keito there, standing in front of the stove with a container of salt in one hand and measuring spoons in the other, looking confused.

“I’m home!” Yamada announced, pulling his roommate from whatever train of thought he’d been in. “You’re back early.”

“You are too.” Keito answered. “How was today? Also, Yamada, how much is half of a tablespoon?”

“Are you making dinner?” Yamada asked, taking off his shoes. While neither of them were terrible at cooking per se, take out meals were more common in their apartment than home cooked ones.

“Yeah, I’m trying to boil the water, but…”

"Oh, then it doesn't matter." Yamada told him, waving a dismissive hand as he walked over to the stove, taking the salt from Keito’s hands and sprinkling a few pinches into the pot. Whenever Keito cooked he tried to follow the recipe to a T to get it right, but Yamada was more convinced that cooking was an art, not a science. It was nice of Keito to think to make dinner though, the pasta and sauce thrown together and put on the table without incident.

"So, how did it go?"

"It was good." Yamada answered with a nod. "The people I'm working with are nice, your dad's nice, and the script reading went well. There's this one guy that refuses to talk to me, but that's not his fault."

Keito seemed a bit confused at that statement, but didn't question it as Yamada continued.

"The schedule isn't that bad either, though it does seem rushed." They weren't filming tomorrow, doing a lot of rehearsing instead--Yamada was going to meet the person that was in charge of choreographing most of his fighting scenes--but then the next day after the movie began. Keito nodded.

"Yabu has a television show lined up after this movie; he got the offer first, and told my dad about it, so he doesn't want to waste any time.”

Yamada nodded in understanding at the consideration, the two taking a few more bites in silence.

“So, how was your day?” Yamada asked. Keito forked through his noodles for a moment before responding.

“Cold.” He finally answered. “We did a swimsuit shoot today, and I got in a pool and everything. I mean, it was sunny, but… It was really windy too.”

Yamada laughed. Keito was a model, doing mostly photoshoots with the occasional fashion show. It was the beginning of spring, not nearly the time to be swimming yet, but Yamada had heard how in advance most of the photoshoots took place.

“Do you think you could help me with my lines?” Yamada asked when dinner was over, putting his dishes in the sink. “I want to practice.”

Keito nodded—he’d done this before—sitting on the couch. Yamada retrieved his script, turning to the scene they would be filming next and handing it over. It was the scene in which he was meeting the rest of the spy team for the first time. Keito looked at the four different characters on the page.

“You’re going to be you, but whose lines should I say?” He asked, slightly perplexed.

“Could you be all of them?” Yamada asked. Keito gave him an unsure look, but didn’t protest, clearing his throat exaggeratedly. Yamada laughed.

“You’re Maeda, correct? I’m the leader of the team, Takahashi Kazuya.”

Yamada tried to nod and say his line, but Keito had, for some reason, given Takahashi Kazuya—the character Yabu was playing—an extremely deep and slow voice. When Keito glanced over at him, waiting, Yamada realized that the voice hadn’t been a joke, and he burst into laughter.

“What?” Keito finally asked.

“Why do you sound like that?” Yamada asked back.

“This guy is the leader, right?” Keito sounded confused as he tried to explain himself. “Shouldn’t he be old and experienced?”

That made Yamada laugh again, shaking his head.

“That’s Yabu’s character.” He finally managed out, trying to imagine his skinny co-star with the voice Keito had given him and failing miserably. Keito, who had also met Yabu before, laughed out loud. He kept the voice though, giving Chinen’s character Narita Shouji a squeaky, high voice and Takaki’s character Moriya Jiro a flat, nasally voice. It was quite funny, and Yamada was glad that, despite being distracted and amused, he could remember his lines pretty well. Keito wasn’t particularly good at reading lines, but Yamada was still grateful for his help.

The next day was very interesting. Yamada met more people, and got a better grasp on the story, set, and schedule for the movie. Afterwards he went out and got his hair dyed. He was unsure about it, wondering how it would look, and if he would look too pale with such a dark color, but then he remembered the way Daiki said it would suit him, letting himself smile as he waited for the dye to set in.

“Woah! I like your hair!” Yuto exclaimed the day after when he walked in. Yamada thanked him, and was in the middle of explaining the color change when something in the cameraman's hand caught his eye. It was a suit catalog, and it took Yamada a few blinks to realize that Keito was on the cover.

“What?” Yuto asked. Yamada pointed.

“Can I see that magazine?”

Yuto handed it over, and a quick flip-through revealed that all of the pages with Keito on them were dog-eared.

“Are you buying a suit?”

Yuto’s reaction was unexpected; he flushed, then shook his head.

“It’s just…” he fidgeted pausing for a long moment. “That guy is cute, that’s all.” He finally said, refusing to look Yamada in the eye as he pointed at the cover. Pointing at Keito. Yamada couldn’t keep from grinning.

“You think Keito’s cute?”

“You know of him too?” Yuto got exponentially excited by Yamada’s reaction. “I’ve bought everything that Okamoto is in. I tried to get a job once with the suit magazine that he models for sometimes, to work the cameras--I mean, I like photography to begin with, it's not like I…” He must have realized that his explanation sounded like an excuse so he stopped, continuing quickly, “But it didn’t work out. I’m not here because of that though either, I genuinely wanted to work on this movie and am lucky for being hired, but I am hoping that maybe, because it’s his dad, he might stop by, and… What?”

He trailed off after his enthusiasm had toned down enough for him to realize the amused look Yamada was giving him. Yamada wondered for a few moments if he should tell Yuto about his living situation, deciding to go for it.

“Okamoto Keito is my roommate. We share an apartment.”

Yuto’s jaw nearly fell off his face.

“R-really?” he spluttered out. Yamada laughed.

“Really.” He confirmed. “Those photos are a few months old; his hair is longer now.”

Yuto glanced back at the magazine cover, looking a bit starstruck, and Yamada could barely contain his amusement. Then Yuto grew serious—and a touch apologetic—looking at Yamada uneasily.

“You said you share an apartment… If you guys are—if he’s your—I’m so sorry—”

“We’re not dating.” Yamada said, waving a hand as he understood what Yuto was trying to get at.

“Does he… Have a girlfriend?”

That made Yamada pause. Keito’d had a few female friends, but Yamada could never tell if it was the English gentleman part of his roommate that kept him from ever dating them or a genuine lack of interest.

“Actually… I’m not completely sure if that’s his area.” He held a hand up as Yuto began to smile. “Don’t get too excited, I don’t really know. We don’t talk that much. He’s shy and awkward.”

“Shy and awkward?” Yuto echoed, his tone of voice betraying just how endearing he thought that was. Yamada nodded.

“He plays guitar, and he sleeps in nothing but his underwear—”

“Ah, there you are.” Daiki said. The makeup artist had just walked in, coming up behind them and placing a hand on Yamada’s bicep, tugging lightly. “Let’s go get you ready. What’s all this talk about underwear?”

Yamada laughed and shook his head, leaving a puddle of Nakajima Yuto behind him. When they got to Yamada’s dressing room, it looked about the same as last time—the mirror and makeup supplies, with a clothing rack against one wall—except now it wasn’t empty. Hikaru and Yabu were there, having what sounded like a lighthearted argument about something. Hikaru was still in his street clothes, but Yabu was decked out fully in his spy outfit. Daiki and Yamada were not paid much mind as they entered, except for Hikaru giving Yamada a little grin. Then he gasped at Yabu and took a step back.

“What?” Yabu asked, slightly concerned.

“I can’t believe you got food on your clothes!” Hikaru answered, pointing. When Yabu looked down, Hikaru zipped his jacket all the way up, the fabric closing around Yabu’s throat, his thumb catching Yabu on the nose. The stupid prank made Yamada smile, Hikaru laughing as he was fixed with an amused yet indignant expression. Yabu began to laugh too soon for the expression to have any effect, putting his hands on his face.

“Go get a room you two; I have work to do here.” Daiki said, gesturing for Yamada to take a seat in front of the makeup table.

“We had a room until you so rudely interrupted.” Hikaru pointed out.

“The room isn’t yours.” Daiki answered. Then he adopted an apprehensive look, glancing around. “I don’t have to… Disinfect anything, do I?”

Yabu choked a laugh into his hands but Hikaru didn’t answer, giving Daiki a wry smile and tugging Yabu out of the room.

“Don’t worry about that.” Daiki told Yamada, though he sounded more like he was convincing himself. “Hikaru’s just joking.”

Yamada nodded; he had figured as much. From what he had seen of Hikaru and Yabu’s interactions, the two were close, but Yamada had been unable to ascertain if they were simply roommates, or something else. He was about to ask for Daiki’s insight on the situation when Daiki turned to him, holding a jar of foundation and grinning at him. His smile drove the question completely from Yamada’s mind.

“It looks really good, by the way.” Daiki said. “I mean, you do. Your hair.” He flubbed a word or two more before he noticed Yamada, who pursing his lips in an attempt not to smile.  
“Shut up and close your eyes.” Was all Daiki said, hitting the end of his nose with a fluffy brush. This time, Daiki was there when he emerged from his changing room, fussing with his hair a few times as they walked to set.

The set was different than yesterday—they were in the training compound Yamada’s character was to have lived in before being transferred to his spy unit. They were only filming the scene in which Yamada was picked up; between the training compound and the headquarters there was an assault in the form of a planned car accident by Hikaru and his followers. If things went well, they would also be looking at filming the legitimate version of the scene they had tested out a few days previous, but Kenichi insisted that there was no pressure to get that far.

“Let’s give this a shot, shall we?” Kenichi said once everyone was on set, lit and positioned properly. “This’ll be a trial run. Start at Narita greeting Maeda, and just go until I stop you.”

It was the scene he and Keito ran yesterday, Yamada finding his place and nodding to himself.

“Action!”

“Hello!” Chinen said happily. Yamada gave a slightly nervous wave.

“Hi.”

“You’re Maeda, correct? I’m the leader of the team, Takahashi Kazuya.”

The scene went well until they all got to a part where Yabu had to talk about The Imposter.

“He and his followers already know about you joining our team, and therefore know all about you. From this moment on, you need to careful about every aspect of your life, from what you buy to who you talk to, until he is caught. He is an expert at changing his voice, his face, and even his height. We have tried many different methods to discover his true identity, but everyone, from his ‘coworkers’ to the long line of women he—”

Yabu stopped in the middle of his serious monologue, face breaking into a huge smile, silent laughter shaking his shoulders.

“Yabu?” Takaki finally said.

“Sorry, sorry.” Yabu stood up straight, waving a hand in front of his face. “I can do it. I’ll do it again.”

“Alright.” Kenichi said, his expression suggesting that he was unsure of whether or not he should be worried. “Go from where that line begins.”

Yabu nodded, looking at Yamada again. “He and his followers already know…”

The line was going fine, Yabu speaking clearly and seriously, but when he again arrived at the part about Hikaru having a long line of female lovers behind him, he couldn’t help but laugh, covering his face with his hands. This time Chinen laughed with him, looking from Yabu to Hikaru and giggling. Yamada glanced off set to where Hikaru was standing with an offended expression on his face.

"What’s so funny about that?” he asked, Yabu just grinning and shaking his head.

“We can ask Yaotome to leave the room.” Kenichi said, one eyebrow cocked in amusement, looking between the two. Yabu shook his head.

“No, no, it’s alright. I can do this.”

The third time Yabu actually did say the line successfully, but Takaki had a hand covering his mouth in the background of the shot, Kenichi struggling out a “cut!” between laughs.

“You made it funny!” He protested to Yabu, who smiled sheepishly, bowing. By the time they could finally move on, Yabu had said the line seven times, and then they had to do it once more because Yamada had completely forgotten that he was the one to speak next. The amusing flub had caused the entire room to be more relaxed, taking some edge off of the “first day of filming” anxiety, and they filmed the same scene multiple times, getting the same lines from a number of different angles. Every time they changed around the cameras Yamada glanced off set he saw Daiki there, giving him a silly face and a thumbs up.

Everyone froze when the scene was over, unsure of what the procedures were, suspended in time before Kenichi yelled “Cut!” They all immediately relaxed, a smile on Chinen’s face.

“How was that?” he asked happily.

“Good.” Kenichi said. “Really good, actually. Break for food guys, I’ll give some further instruction in about forty-five minutes.”


	4. Chapter 4

Daiki was staring when he exited the set so Yamada walked over, a little curious about what he was looking at. The closer he got the more Daiki smiled, and when he finally reached him Yamada raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“I did a great job on your face.” Daiki told him. Yamada laughed.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You know, maybe it wasn’t me. Maybe it’s your hair. I don’t know; you look really nice today.”

“I...” Daiki’s cheeky tone had made Yamada expect some sort of joke or playful jab, the compliment catching him off guard. Before he had time to say any thanks Shintaro bounded up, all sorts of happy and excited.

“Yamada! Would you like to have lunch with me?”

“Sure!” They did need to get to know each other, and the enthusiastic way in which Shintaro asked was too cute to decline. They picked out a spot on the floor to sit together, Daiki tagging along and sitting on Yamada’s other side. Ryutaro joined them as well, then Yuto, then Takaki and Chinen; before long a large majority were there, all sitting together and talking.

“And I didn’t know what to do, because this woman had come out of nowhere screaming ‘hold this baby!’ and I was standing in Times Square, not knowing a word of English, with this toy poodle in baby clothes in my arms.”

“That is something that would only happen to you.” Takaki deadpanned, Inoo laughing, Hikaru opening his mouth in indignation.

“Me? What part of this getting separated from Kota, hopelessly lost in America, yelling dog lady extravaganza sounds like me?”

“Literally all of it.”

Hikaru puffed his cheeks out, his lack of a comeback making the group laugh.

“Does anyone else have a foreign country story?” Daiki asked. They were all about halfway through their food, the unanimous head shakes calling for a new topic.

“Well, this is a little foreign…” Yamada began. “I have a roommate that’s fluent in English because he spent five years in the UK.” He caught Yuto’s eyes, grinning a bit--teasing Yuto about Keito was quickly becoming his new favorite thing. “And this morning I found out that Yuto has a really, really big crush on him.”

“He’s fluent in _English?_” Yuto yelped.

“Wait... I need some back story.” Ryutaro said, pointing between them. “How does he know your roommate? Are you two friends or something?”

“My roommate is this model--”

“His roommate is Okamoto Keito.” Yuto cut in, his voice a little too excited.

“You said that like we were supposed to know who that is. Okamoto as in our director Okamoto, or Okamoto as in the condom brand?” Inoo asked. Yabu snorted into his sandwich, Takaki making a noise in his throat to stifle a laugh.

“...our director.” Yamada said quickly. “His son has been my roommate for about a year. He’s really nice, and he does photo shoots for magazines and stuff, and this morning I saw Yuto carrying the most recent issue he was in.”

“Aww!” Chinen exclaimed. “Is he cute? I want to see!”

Yuto grinned, jumping up and dashing off. He returned soon, the suit magazine in his hands, passing it around.

“He’s on all the dog-eared pages.”

Keito earned appreciative nods from most of them, Inoo saying something about his face being a little too intense. Hikaru made a comment earned him a look from Yabu, causing a bit of backpedaling, and Daiki also remarked that he could definitely understand Yuto’s crush. It might have been that, if Yamada was honest with himself, that made him raise his eyebrows at Yuto and say

“He’s not that cute. He’s really clumsy, actually. He trips over everything.”

Yuto’s mouth fell open--every little fact he was learning seemed to be his new favorite--Hikaru taking a thoughtful bite of sandwich.

“That sounds cute to me.” he said when he was done chewing. “What?” he protested to Yabu. “Stuff like that is cute! Like how forgetful you are. It’s endearing.”

“If you like him so much, why don’t you marry him?” Yabu grumbled, the group laughing.

“He’ll have to get through me.” Yuto said. The remark was meant to be under his breath, but the laughter ended right before he said it, the room becoming quiet enough for everyone else to hear.

“You have to introduce him, Yamada. Get him an autograph or something.” Shintaro said, watching Yuto pick the magazine up and flip through it, looking at the photos for the who-knows-how-many-th time with a little, affectionate smile. “Look at that face.”

“I kind of want to tell Kenichi.” Yamada said. At that, Yuto’s head shot up, a pleadingly terrified look on his face. “He comes over for dinner sometimes, I could slip it into conversation pretty easily...”

“Please--”

Yamada raised his voice, enjoying the giggles coming from Daiki. “Since Keito is an only child I can see him being a bit protective, and I don’t know how he would feel about someone that sleeps with the underwear edition photo shoot his son did under his pillow.”

“Yamada, Yamada no--”

Many of them were laughing, but Shintaro nudged Yamada’s shoulder, slightly wide eyed, pointing at a space somewhere behind Yamada’s right shoulder. Yamada took a quick glance, turning back immediately and covering his mouth with his hand. Kenichi was walking up to them, now maybe close enough to have overheard. If he did he gave no indication, a smile on his face as he stopped, putting his hands on his hips.

“If there aren’t any objections, I’d like to get our actors back into the makeup chairs for another scene. How does that sound to everyone?”

He got a slew of nods in response, making him grin. “Good. It’ll be the scene we screen tested on the first day, so look over your scripts if you need to.”

“Yes sir.”

“Excellent.” He made to turn around, stopping on the spot and looking right at Yuto. “Nice magazine you’ve got there, Nakajima. Looking to buy a suit?”

“Yes sir.” Yuto squeaked out, Ryutaro promptly choking on his granola bar to hold in a laugh.

“Good. Alright, if the eating could be finished in the next fifteen minutes, that would be ideal. You guys are great, keep it up.”

Kenichi walked off, throwing up a thumbs up behind his back as he left. They all burst into laughter once he’d exited the room, Yamada apologizing profusely to Yuto through giggles.

“Are you done eating yet?” Daiki asked, the excitement in his tone making Yamada ask as he nodded and stood.

“Yeah, why?”

“I get to beat you up. It’s going to be fun.” Daiki was smiling, and Yamada stopped walking.

“What?”

“The next scene. It’s after the vehicle ambush, right? You’ll have cuts and blood on your face. It’s always fun to put that type of makeup on.”

“Oh.” Yamada laughed, bumping Daiki’s shoulder with his own as they resumed their walk to Yamada’s room. “You had me worried there for a second, honestly.”

Daiki faked a punch at him, and they pretended to slug each other all the way to the makeup table, ducking and laughing, Yamada let his eyes close as he half-fell into the chair. Daiki told him to sit up so he could get started, amusement clear in his voice, Yamada getting up and retrieving his script before fully complying. He spoke through his lines as Daiki flittered around him, the makeup artist ducking in to say someone else’ part whenever there was a pause, trying to help. Occasionally he would take a step back, look over Yamada’s face, and just beam before getting back to work.

“You’re enjoying this way too much.” Yamada told him, eyes narrowed critically.

“Just wait until you’re done.” Daiki got out a container of hair wax, popping it open. “You’ll understand.”

Yamada really wasn’t sure what that meant, making a noise in surprise as Daiki trailed a hand through his hair and tugged, the action a little rough. Daiki chuckled out an apology, and Yamada couldn’t help but hope that Daiki was too busy disheveling his hair to notice how red his face had become. He managed to cool his cheeks by the time Daiki was done, taking more steps back than usual and giving him a critical once-over.

“...you look hot.”

“What?”

Daiki handed over the hand mirror, Yamada taken aback. He truly looked like he had been through a car crash, and not feeling any pain upon looking at his injuries was baffling. He wanted to touch some dried blood on his cheekbone, holding back and saying

“Wow.”

“Thank you.” Daiki responded. “There’s a ripped version of your costume on the rack; go change, and I’ll meet you on set.”

“Okay.”

Yamada looked at himself a bit more after Daiki left the room, standing in front of the mirror. He had more cuts and scrapes than bruises, and his hair was sticking up in three different places. The feeling of Daiki’s hands running through his hair came to the front of his mind and he shook it away, changing clothes and heading out to set. It all looked incredibly similar to the first day, except this time he had arrived first. Daiki followed him up on the set, Yamada sitting in the chair in front of the folder with Hikaru’s mugshot.

“You messed your hair up.” Daiki told him, frowning. Yamada laughed.

“I messed it up? What about you, and your hair wax?”

“You’re welcome.” Daiki ran his fingers through Yamada’s hair a few more times, mussing it to his satisfaction. The rest of the people in the scene entered soon thereafter, Yamada shocked by their appearances. They were all as beaten, bloody, and roughed-up as he was, but it was more startling to see on someone else. Yamada had practiced this scene enough times for the lines to come automatically, and it was a good thing too; Chinen’s head wound was proving extremely distracting.

“Hesitating the way you did was a stupid mistake.”

Takaki looked and sounded so venomously annoyed that it surprised him. Chinen smeared some blood across his forehead trying to brush his bangs out of his eyes, seeing it on his fingers and surprising himself. None of them really had much experience with makeup like this, and it was showing through.

“Cut!” Kenichi called out once Yabu had finished his line. “Yamada, I’m liking your reactions. I feel bad for being happy about how genuinely upset you look. Takaki, calm yourself a bit. This kid didn’t get you killed, he just messed up. Chinen... Is Goto Hiromi here?”

“Yes sir.”

“Fix his injury please.”

Chinen looked a bit sheepish as a man that Yamada assumed was the little actor’s makeup artist ran up. Yabu looked off set and clapped his hands together, a water bottle thrown at him by Hikaru, taking a quick drink and throwing it back. When Yamada looked off set he was surprised to see Daiki standing next to Yuto, pointing at what he assumed was the screen and saying something. He noticed Yamada looking at him, throwing up a piece sign and a cheesy grin.

The scene seemed to drag, and more often than not Yamada felt that the camera wasn’t even on him. He still performed every take, the four of them trying different things, some of them liked by Kenichi and some of them dismissed. When Kenichi yelled “Cut!” for the final time that day, he had a smile on his face.

“We’re ending early today guys, good for you. Don’t get used to this though; we’ve got a big scene tomorrow.”

“Ending early?” Yamada asked Chinen quietly as people began to mill around. Chinen nodded, hopping down from the table he’d been sitting on.

“We were barely here for two hours.” He told Yamada, picking at a bit of makeup on the side of his face. “Which is good, because this clotted blood was starting to get itchy.”

After failing to find Daiki, Yamada made his way to his dressing room on his own. The lights in the room were off, making him frown. Had Daiki gone home already? He didn’t know how to take all of these fake gashes off on his own.

“Ahh!” There was a shout as something hit him in the chest, forcing him off balance. His back made contact with the opened door and he fell against it, causing it to slam closed, the sound loud making him jump horribly. He heard a chuckle very close to him, a warm body against his chest. The lights flicked on to reveal Daiki pressing him against the door, having jumped on him in the dark.

“Got you.”

Yamada let out a breath, a bit embarrassed, trying not to smile as he shoved Daiki off him. “That isn’t funny.”

“It was hilarious!” Daiki protested, and Yamada couldn’t hold in a grin any longer, pushing on Daiki’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean to fall on you, I just wanted to shout and stuff, but you were closer to me than I thought and then you fell and then I fell and... We’re lucky the door was there to catch us.”

“You said I looked hot, but I didn’t think you would pounce on me.” Yamada said, Daiki spluttering out something about “I didn’t mean it like _that_,” as he removed Yamada’s makeup. When he was finished with his face he started playing with Yamada’s hair again, and Yamada just assumed he was returning it to normal, making a noise of protest when Daiki reached for the hair wax and opened it.

“Hey, what--”

“Do you want a mohawk or not?”

“Not!” Yamada exclaimed, sitting forward in the chair. Daiki gave Yamada a put out face, but he laughed.

“The only way to really get that out is to take a shower, so I was just going to mess around a little. I’m done though; you’re free to go home if you want.”

Yamada didn’t particularly want to leave, but he figured he should; there were still plenty of lines to learn, and he wanted to repay Keito for the dinner he had made a few days before. He stood, telling Daiki his intentions as he gathered his things. He was ready to head out the door when Daiki grabbed his arm.

“Hey, Yamada?”

“Yeah?”

“Could I have your number?”

The question surprised him until he realized that it shouldn’t; they worked together rather closely, it would be good to be able to get in touch. He nodded, pulling his phone out, Daiki using it to call his own cell phone before giving it back.

“Thanks. See you tomorrow!”

Yamada simply nodded, finding himself in an inexplicably good mood as he arrived home. He turned on the radio in the kitchen, singing and dancing around as he prepared dinner. Keito got home somewhere in the middle of it all, and Yamada wasn’t exactly sure how long his roommate had been watching him by the time he announced his presence.

“Did something good happen today?” Keito asked once Yamada had refused his offer of help, pulling out a chair at the table. Yamada shrugged.

“Well, we filmed two scenes, and I had my face all bloody and beaten up. I should have taken a picture to show you.”

“And getting beaten up makes you happy?”

“Hey, I have it on good authority that I looked good.”

“Is someone there flirting with you?” Keito asked. That question made Yamada pause, considering it for a moment before shaking his head. Daiki was just complimenting him--or complimenting himself, seeing as he was the one that had done the makeup. It wasn’t like he had been asked to dinner.

“No, but there is someone there that likes you.”

It took Keito a second to realize what Yamada had said.

“Wait... Me?”

“Yeah. He wants an autograph.”

Keito’s face was one of shock, making Yamada laugh.

“Come on Keito, you’re a model. Did you think you could escape that profession without at least a few fans?”

“...fans?

“Well, he did have one of your magazines with him; the most recent issue with the suits and stuff. I told him you sleep in your underwear and he nearly fell over.”

Keito didn’t seem to have gotten past the ‘fans’ comment, not reacting to the personal tidbit about him that Yamada had shared. Dinner was finished, the table set and the food eaten, Yamada humming happily to himself the entire time. He couldn’t pick out what it was that had him in such a good mood but he didn’t really care to find out, as long as the feeling didn’t go away.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day was what truly set the pace. They shot three long scenes, taking a break for food between each one, Kenichi entier asking them to do it again or giving them the okay to move on. It was definitely tiring, but quite enjoyable; everyone was nice, and the atmosphere on set was always positive. Yuto was quickly becoming a very good friend, always the first to greet Yamada when he walked in and always wanting to talk to him during breaks. Sometimes it was Keito that they talked about, but Yuto also talked to him about himself, so Yamada didn’t feel any ulterior motives in their growing friendship. Yuto would teach him various camera trivia, they would speculate about the nature of Yabu and Hikaru’s relationship, and Yamada would always, always tease him.

“Did you ask Keito for an autograph yet?” Yuto asked, three days after their first talk about Keito. Yamada almost nodded, feeling like he had before remembering that while he’d told Keito about having a fan, he’d never actually asked for an autograph. Yuto made a rather dejected face.

“Could you? Please? Please?” Yuto drew the third plea out until Yamada nodded, laughing at him. The next day, when Yamada came to work empty handed, Yuto gave Yamada his cell number, texting him until he had a signed copy of one of Keito’s swimsuit issues handed over to him. Then he squeezed the air out of Yamada’s lungs, not letting go until Daiki came over, wondering where on earth Yamada had gone to and didn’t he know he was five minutes late to makeup?

Despite not really being in many scenes, Ryutaro was there more often than not. He hung out with Daiki when filming was going on, and it was evident at once that their friendship was based upon more than the times that Daiki had worked with Shintaro on something. Ryutaro would waltz into Yamada’s dressing rooms in the morning, wait until Daiki’s hands were full or he was concentrating, then steal all of his face brushes and run away. The result was always some sort of indignant squawking on Daiki’s end, asking Yamada to hold the hair straightener as he ran after the “petulant little twerp”. One thing Yamada never noticed Ryutaro touching was Daiki’s hair wax, even if it was the only thing on the table, and eventually he had to ask about it.

“Nobody ever touches Daiki’s hair wax.” Ryutaro said, more seriously than expected.

“You learned that the hard way.” Daiki added. Ryutaro nodded, laughing.

“I did.”

Filming was long and tiring, for sure, but it was fun and satisfying as well, and Yamada began and ended every day in Daiki’s makeup chair, so he couldn’t find it in himself to complain. After about a month and a half of filming, Inoo came in with something in his hand, gathering all of the actors around him.

“What? What is it?” Yabu asked once they had all reached him. Inoo laid his object on the table--a copy of Seventeen magazine.

“You buy Seventeen magazine?” Ryutaro asked, snorting out a laugh. Inoo raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, I was in the store looking for ‘Fragile Male Ego’ Magazine--you can buy it at your nearest convenience store if you’re feeling insecure--and I noticed that our movie was mentioned on the front cover.”

Sure enough, there it was, covering up the pop singer Domoto Koichi’s left cheekbone: _THE FRONT, Pg 17._ Hikaru flipped to the page excitedly, then began to read.

“THE FRONT is an action movie directed by Okamoto Kenichi... Okay, the have the names of all of us, and a bit about the plot... Oh here; the real interest in the movie has not been generated by the plot, however, but the combination of the budget and the actors chosen. Spy movies are not cheap, with their stunts and gadgets, and Okamoto is not skimping on the money for the effects. However, there are no big name actors in the upcoming flick. The most recognizable name is Yaotome Hikaru, who has done a plethora of plays and a few movies, but he is not the main character. The chosen lead for the movie is Yamada Ryosuke, a young TV actor. His performance is the most anticipated in this high budget movie, and perhaps the most anticipated in this year as a whole. Hopefully, he does well.”

All eyes were on Yamada as Hikaru finished reading.

“Wow, people are really excited for you, huh.” Yabu said. He was smiling, but Yamada felt sick. He hadn’t realized--or even known, really--how anticipated the movie was. It felt like their own personal, secret project, worked on by a group of friends, not a huge feature film that would be watched and criticized by hundreds of thousands of people. With himself as the main character. He was doing his best, sure, but he _had_ to do well. He _had_ to make the movie do well.

The stress manifested itself into a ball of nerves, settling uneasily into his stomach and distracting him. He had his first scene with Shintaro, and during it he found himself unable to focus, forgetting his lines and pausing in strange places. They had to cut multiple times, and the more criticism Kenichi gave, the worse he felt. He knew that he needed to do better, and he knew that he could do better, but he found himself unable do much more than say his lines and stand there. Finally, Kenichi called for a break, Shintaro asking him if he was okay.

As Yabu filmed a few scenes with Chinen he and Shintaro went into a back room, practicing together, able to perform the scene to Kenichi’s satisfaction then they returned. Keito was already asleep when Yamada finally got home, and for that Yamada was glad; he appreciated his roommate’s interest in him, but the last thing he wanted was Keito asking how his day had gone. He stayed in the living room, practicing his lines, practicing his gestures, practicing everything he would need for the scenes through the rest of the week. He didn’t pay attention to the time, and ended up staying awake rehearsing much later than he had intended. His alarm clock woke him less than three hours after his head had hit the pillow but he didn’t complain, doing his best to drag himself out of bed and off to work.

Daiki frowned when Yamada walked in. He was usually greeted with a smile, and the change made Yamada frown back.

“What?”

“How much sleep did you get last night?”

“...not much.” Yamada admitted as he took a seat in the makeup chair. “How could you tell?”

Daiki came around and faced him, bending a bit so his face was level with Yamada’s and looking looking him in the eye for a moment before glancing to his lips, his eyes traveling around his face.

“I get an up close and personal look at you every day Ryosuke, of course I can tell. You look like you barely slept at all. Did you?”

“I slept some.” Yamada answered stubbornly. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Why?” Daiki stood, walking to his makeup table and picking products out.

“Why what?”

“Why didn’t you get any sleep? Did you forget to learn your lines or something?”

“I...” Yamada sighed. “Yesterday didn’t go well, so I practiced when I got home.”

“We finished here at nearly midnight. And then you practiced?”

“I’m the lead in this movie. I have to do well.”

“You also have to take care of yourself.” Daiki turned to face him, an open bottle of foundation in one hand. “Now I have to cover up your eye bags, silly.”

“Hey, at least I’m giving you something to do. Remember the first day, when you said I didn’t need any makeup? Here you go.”

Daiki gave him a look, getting started on his face. “I wasn’t kidding.” He finally said. “Your skin is excellent, did you know that?”

“Yes.”

His affirmative response made Daiki laugh, Yamada smiling at the sound.

“Well, your acting is excellent too. I watch you, so I would know. Kenichi hasn’t ever complained about you, has he?”

“Well, yesterday--”

“Forget yesterday. Everyone has bad days, right? He picked you as the lead for a reason. Just because your earlier roles weren’t as serious as this one doesn’t mean you’re not prepared or capable.” Daiki put the foundation away, picking up his concealer. “You’re doing your best, and you’re achieving your part well.”

Yamada bit the insides of his lips, unable to make eye contact with Daiki as the young man dabbed around his face.

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is... Care about what you’re doing, but don’t worry this much about it. Get a good night’s sleep tonight, okay? For me.”

“Okay.”

Daiki beamed at him, making something in Yamada’s chest jump, and suddenly he wanted Daiki to kiss him. Instead, Daiki hit his nose with his powder brush.

“Close your eyes; I’m about to fling powder everywhere.”

Yamada complied, trying to laugh the fleeting feeling off, and aside from Daiki’s light humming, it was quiet for the rest of his makeup and hair.

That day’s scenes went infinitely better than the day previously. Kenichi was pleasantly surprised, full of nice words and encouragement, the pressure Yamada had felt yesterday slowly melting away.

“Yamada, that was excellent. Whatever it is you’re doing, keep doing it.”

He used his after scene break to take a nap. Or, at least, he tried--he felt as though about fifteen minutes had passed before he was woken by a sheepish Yuto, who had burst into the room rather loudly before realizing Yamada was asleep.

“No, what is it?” Yamada asked after Yuto had mumbled out a sheepish “forget it” and made to leave the room. He was awake now.

“I... I just wanted to... Do you think Keito is ever going to visit the set?”

It had been a while since Yuto had mentioned Keito, and as a result Yamada had nearly forgotten his friend had a crush on his roommate. It would be fun to see the two of them interact, what with all the floundering Yuto would doubtlessly be doing.

“Would you even talk to him?” Yamada asked, sitting up a little straighter, trying to become more alert. “What would you say?”

The following silence indicated that despite his excitement, Yuto had not thought past actually seeing Keito in the flesh.

“You would have to initiate the conversation.” Yamada began, Yuto’s slightly helpless facial expression enough to make him obligated to help. “And... He plays guitar, and he speaks English... What’s something you would be able to talk to him about?”

“I don’t know! I mean, I have been working on my English a little bit, but it is kind of hopeless...”

Yamada laughed. “You could always ask him for pointers; he’d be happy to help.”

Yuto nodded, sinking into thought, Yamada beginning to wonder about how rude it would be to go back to sleep with someone sitting right next to him when Yuto spoke up again.

“You said they shoot the photos in advance, so I was wondering... What does Keito look like now? Do you have any pictures?”

“Pictures?” Yamada echoed. Yuto nodded. “No, I don’t, but... He’s gotten a haircut? He was in a photo shoot two days ago that I know isn’t going to be anywhere for another four months, if that helps.”

It didn’t. Yuto just looked at him, and Yamada laughed.

“How about this; I figure out when his next off day is, and ask if he’ll come visit?”

That perked Yuto up considerably, nodding and thanking him. Yamada was happy Yuto wasn’t giving up on trying to meet Keito; it was cute.

After another promise to go to bed earlier coaxed out of him by Daiki, Yamada went home. Keito was awake that time and they talked a bit; his roommate was preparing for an upcoming fashion show where he would be wearing at least fifty different outfits. Yamada told him a little more about Yuto, just to see him all flustered again when the word “fan” came up.

After learning that Yamada was planning on practicing Keito offered to help, and they read through a few things together. Keito wasn’t the best reading partner, usually overacting and sometimes reading the cues, but the thoughtfulness was always nice, and it did still help a little. Yamada stayed up after Keito decided to go to bed, practicing more, his promise to Daiki lingering in his mind. He did need to go to sleep at least a little earlier--no one could run on six hours for two days--but he was still up past midnight, downing an entire cup of coffee before going to work.

Daiki clicked his tongue in disapproval the next morning, despite Yamada’s loud claims that really, he had gotten more sleep, simply shaking his head.

“I don’t just want you to get more sleep. I want you to get enough sleep.”

“I’ll live.” Yamada declared. Kenichi’s approval was more important than his exhaustion--success was more important. “Besides, you need to earn your keep somehow, don’t you?”

“Don’t sass me.” Daiki answered, one eyebrow raised. “I have complete control of what your face looks like.”

“...right.” Yamada laughed. “Really though, don’t worry about me. Okay?”

Daiki frowned instead of agreeing. The scenes went well, and kept going well, and Yamada was sure that his extra practice was what was giving him the accomplishment. By the end of the month he was averaging four and a half hours of sleep a night and three cups of coffee a day, as well as the occasional nap he could slip in if he decided that he didn’t really need lunch. He did feel bad about causing Daiki to worry, especially after he admitted--grudgingly--to himself that the crush he had on his makeup artist was growing embarrassingly quickly.


	6. Chapter 6

In hindsight, truly, liking him had been unavoidable from the beginning, what with all of the smiles and compliments Daiki was always giving him. The compliments themselves had become frustrating, Yamada left wondering if “you look nice today” meant “I did a good job on your makeup” or “I think you’re cute”. Yamada tried complimenting him back once but Daiki had simply stared at him, Yamada panicking, laughing it off before the makeup artist had time to reply.

The scene Yamada had been anticipating most finally arrived: his first scene with Hikaru. It was long, and while Hikaru had over twice the amount of lines he did Kenichi had warned them that it was an emotionally intensive scene, making Yamada nervous about it. He tried to stay up and practice, but facial expressions and reactions were hard to prepare for alone and he ended up just going to bed after a couple of hours, extremely uneasy. That caused him to rise early, getting to work early too, walking on to set the next day to find the the entire room completely changed.

Everything was dark or metallic, and it definitely didn’t look friendly, all red walls with dim lights. It was The Imposter’s lair, and Yamada was ready to just head down to makeup when he saw a limp figure slumped on the table in the middle of the room.

Concerned, he approached, and a closer look revealed that it was just Inoo, asleep. Yamada shook him gently, getting an irritated squint in response when Inoo finally lifted his head.

“What?”

“Are you okay?”

Inoo sat up a little more, groaning. “Where... Did I fall asleep? Oh.” He shook his head, blinking and looking around. “Is it time to start filming?”

“No, not yet. You should go to the break room if you want to sleep; there are some couches in there.”

Inoo nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t mean to pass out here. Props crew were up all night, setting this place up.” He gestured. “I think we got it all done in time.”

Yamada nodded. “It looks done to me.”

“First scene with Hikaru, are you excited?” Inoo asked. Yamada nodded. He was more nervous and apprehensive and exhausted than excited, but he figured that mix of emotions was close enough to be nearly the same.

“Yeah, but right now I need to go to makeup... What?”

Inoo was looking at him shrewdly after he had pointed in the direction of his dressing room, glancing from Yamada’s face to the room Daiki was in, a grin on his face.

“You like him, don’t you?” he asked.

“I--well… Him?” The bluntness of the question turned Yamada’s face pink, stuttering out a response, unsure of what he was even trying to say. “I just... It’s not...”

His failure to answer was answer enough, Inoo smiling wider.

“I see. Good.”

“Yamada!” Daiki was walking up to them. The smile on his face was there, a welcome change after that disapproving, concerned look, and Yamada couldn’t help but smile back. “You’re a bit early. I was just coming to wake Inoo-chan. What’re you guys talking about?”

“You.” Inoo answered, and for a moment Yamada was terrified that Inoo would tell. He didn’t, rising out of his seat in a stretch, the sound coming from his mouth almost cat-like as he arched his back. “Unfortunately your short legs failed you again, because Yamada got here first. He was about to go and find you, actually. You get to make him all roughed up again today, right?”

Daiki nodded, smiling.

“Okay, you kids have fun now. Be careful, use protection.” Inoo walked off, waving, calling out various phrases as he went, and when Yamada turned back to his stylist, Daiki was red up to his ears.

“I didn’t think I was getting too beat up today.” Yamada remarked as the two of them walked. Daiki nodded.

“Yeah it’s not that bad. Just a cut or two.”

Though it was only a cut or two Daiki still had a smile on his face that Yamada couldn’t help but notice, calling him a sadist as he spent too long on a gash across Yamada’s nose.

“I don’t like seeing you in actual pain though.” Daiki protested, though the statement did make him pull back. “Just fake pain, that I’ve manufactured myself.”

“Because that’s so much better.” Yamada said, raising an eyebrow. Then Daiki pinched his cheek, making him yelp and swing out, trying to land a punch on Daiki’s arm. Daiki laughed at the indignant expression he received when he danced out of reach.

“Okay, maybe I’m a bit of a sadist.” He admitted. “I think I liked that a little too much.”

“You’re the worst.” Yamada grumbled back, Daiki sticking his tongue out at him.

Set up for the scene almost took almost as long as the makeup did, Yamada being tied to a chair, fake blood splattered on him. He went through his lines a few times in his head, watching Hikaru pacing around offset, feeling when Hikaru finally stepped up that he was different from the usual, amusing Hikaru he usually knew, and it scared him a little. This wasn’t joke-cracking, gun-juggling Hikaru, and not only because of his appearance, though the way he looked did help—his dark hair was slicked back, his outfit black and made of some kind of leather, with the hint of stubble around his lips and chin—it was the look on his face, and the serious, self-important way he walked up to Yamada and in place, asserting his authority without even looking at him. He spoke as soon as the scene started, voice ringing clearly, so sudden that it surprised him a little.

“Maeda!” Hikaru smiled, spreading his arms in a gesture to his surroundings. “Welcome.”

“What do you want?” Yamada spat back at him. That was his only written line of dialogue in the entire scene—the rest of it was reacting to things Hikaru said, though Kenichi had told him that he was allowed to interject with anything that felt natural.

“What do I want? Oh, my. You ask such big questions.”

The lines that followed were the revelation of The Imposter’s oh-so-evil plan, Yamada frowning at him and struggling in the background. It involved kidnapping, explosions, and the threat to murder Shintaro’s character, Maeda Kouyou’s younger brother. That line was the one that Yamada was to have the strongest reaction to. At the end of the monologue, the picture The Imposter had painted was devastating, with all of his teammates dead.

“The ultimate revenge. And do you want to hear the best part?” Hikaru asked with a laugh. “This entire thing, this outcome, all of it—it will all be your fault.”

“Cut!” Kenichi called. “Let’s do it again from the top, for the other camera.”

Yamada lost count of how many times the scene was performed. And honestly, while it should have been hard to keep reacting to Hikaru, and to the same words over and over, it wasn’t. Nearly every time, Hikaru did something different. He said something in a different way, changing the wording or the tone or the volume, moving unexpectedly. That, in turn, freed Yamada up to do different things as well.

More often than not the scene was done in fragments, for close ups and side shots, stopping occasionally for water breaks or to touch up the makeup.

“Can I try something weird?” Hikaru asked Kenichi once he had downed an entire bottle of water and thrown it away. Kenichi nodded, obviously intrigued, and Hikaru left his starting position to stand in front of Yamada.

“I’m not actually going to punch you.” was all the heads up Yamada received, Hikaru murmuring the words to him in a quiet voice as the scene marker fell. Then Hikaru’s fist was coming at his stomach, the hit underhand and the movement full of force. The actual contact was feather-light, but Yamada bent over anyway, coughing and groaning. Hikaru stepped back with a grin.

“Maeda Kouyou. Welcome.”

Kenichi did not stop the scene until it was over, and Yamada saw why; Hikaru’s dominance of everything, from the way he spoke his lines to his atmosphere of the room, had increased. He was playing confident and cocky, dangling Maeda’s tragic future in front of him on a string.

“I love it.” Kenichi declared. “That punch is how we’ll open this scene. Time to get the angles.”

So they shot the punch over, and over, and a few times Yamada was afraid that Hikaru wouldn’t be able to stop his fist in time. Thankfully though, he did, and Yamada always made it look like it hurt.

The scene began to get carried away when someone brought in fake blood and had Yamada put it in his mouth, supposed to spit it out when Hikaru’s fist made contact. Though the stuff did not taste very good it was rather fun; they had to pause and clean up the floor, and once Daiki had to redo the lower half of his face because Hikaru made him laugh before the shot began and he’d just spit the red stuff out all over his chin.

Playing around with nearly every aspect of the scene had shifted the mood though, going from quiet and intimidating to mischievous, and though Hikaru’s dangerous intimidation was gone, Yamada hoped that he and Hikaru still had the dynamic Kenichi wanted to go for.

“I think we have it all, but let’s do it one more time for good measure. Just once more.” Kenichi said, signaling the end of the day. Hikaru nodded, rubbing his hands together; Yamada had a little bit of the fake blood spooned into his mouth, knowing exactly what he was going to do with it.

When Hikaru punched him he kept his mouth closed, doubling over and making a sound, clenching his teeth. Hikaru looked at him, surprised, and Yamada spit the blood on his face.

Hikaru took a step back, raising an eyebrow. “Feisty.” he declared. “I like it.” and that was when Kenichi lost it.

“Okay, okay, we’re done.” The man said between laughs, waving an arm in front of his face. “Good job today.”

“Wait, we’re not finishing the scene?” Hikaru asked. “I just got spit on for nothing?”

Kenichi collapsed into laughs again, Yamada too laughing at him.

“Sorry!” he called to Hikaru as he was untied from the chair. He wobbled as he stood, his entire body stiff, exhaustion washing over him so immediately that he missed what Hikaru said to him next, watching the older actor walk over.

“I… What?” he had to ask.

“We’re taking a picture together.” Hikaru repeated. “I mean, look at us.”

When their faces appeared on Hikaru’s front camera, Yamada understood—Hikaru had red splattered across his face, and Yamada smiled wide, revealing the temporary and grotesque stain on his teeth.

“I didn’t know we could take pictures!” Daiki protested to Yamada as they walked back to his dressing room. “I had Yuto send me still shots of you the first day I roughed you up because you looked so good; if I’d known that I could just snap a few pictures, then I wouldn’t owe him a favor.”

“Don’t be weird.” Yamada said, trying not to smile at Daiki’s words. Honestly, it wasn’t that hard; he was so, so tired.

"We should take a picture too." Daiki said the comment offhandedly as they entered the room, and Yamada didn't want to disagree, but he also didn't want to look like a beaten mess in a photo that he felt inevitably would end up being his cell phone background.

"Maybe after I get all of this off?" He asked. Daiki considered it for a moment, then nodded, looking sympathetic.

"Yeah, you do need to be home soon. Why are you so exhausted? You just sat there."

"You don't know what it's like to work with Hikaru." Yamada answered, sitting in the makeup chair and closing his eyes. "It was like Hikaru wasn't even there, even in between takes. I mean, I started recognizing him again when we got that fake blood stuff out, because everyone sort of eased up then, but... It was almost like he had turned into The Imposter."

Yamada was reminded of what Yabu had said the day of their script reading, about how much of a method actor Hikaru could be, and he had the feeling that he had yet to experience what Hikaru truly turning into his character was like. He couldn't say that he was terribly excited to find out, either.

"Turned into him, huh? Sounds frightening."

"It was!" Yamada protested, remembering Hikaru's sneering, cocky demeanor, how sometimes the expression on his face made Yamada feel like he would be getting a real punch in the gut.

"Well, I regret to inform you that you're filming with him again tomorrow, too." Daiki carefully peeled a fake gash from Yamada's cheek. "It's a shame Hikaru isn't playing some... I don't know, preschool teacher or something."

That made Yamada laugh, and they bounced different roles off of each other, funny things that were polar opposites of The Imposter's character. Yamada had been declared the winner with "That Guy In Shoujo Mangas Convinced He's Marrying His Favorite Vocaloid" character by the time the all makeup was removed. He got dressed in his own clothes, and Daiki was waiting for him, his cell phone in his hand.

"Picture?" He asked. Yamada told himself that it was stupid to be nervous as he nodded, walking over to where Daiki was standing. That thought completely fled his mind as Daiki held the cell phone up, slipping a comfortable arm around Yamada’s waist.

They smiled first, then Daiki pulled a face, causing Yamada to laugh. Daiki laughed back as Yamada imitated the expression in his direction, and it was all so silly, and Daiki was so close and happy next to him that his own exhaustion was momentarily forgotten as Daiki pressed his body against his side. Somewhere in all their giggling the shutter went off, and they were left with a photo of them laughing at each other.

“It’s cute!” Daiki exclaimed, looking closely at the photo.

“I can’t even see your face though!” Yamada protested back. It was true; Daiki was facing the side, his head on Yamada’s shoulder, but it was evident that he was smiling.

“Sure, but look at you.” Daiki pointed out. Yamada was in mid-laugh, mouth open in a smile and eyes nearly closed. “I’m keeping this forever.”

“You’re so embarrassing.” Yamada complained, realizing in that moment how much like a couple they sounded. If Daiki noticed it too he gave no indication, responding only with a small, self-satisfied grin, and it was all Yamada had to resist closing the tiny distance between them with a kiss.

“Now, we need to get you home.” Daiki said, stepping away and spinning Yamada’s body towards the door by his shoulders. “Tomorrow’s another face off with The Imposter after all.”

“Okay.”

They left the building together, Daiki promising to send Yamada the photo before closing his car door for him and waving goodbye. Exhaustion crept back up on his drive home, and though his elation hadn’t faded, he still ended up falling asleep nearly immediately after getting home, slumped on the couch in his clothes.

When he woke up there was a blanket over him, Keito in the kitchen, wrapping up a plate of food. He stopped when he noticed Yamada moving, giving him a little wave.

“You were asleep when I got home, so I was just wrapping up some dinner for you.”

“Thanks.” Yamada felt as though Keito deserved a Roommate of the Year award as he sat up, folding the blanket off of himself. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, it was just a long day.”

“Well, you haven’t really been sleeping much either.” Keito pointed out, putting the plate at Yamada’s place at the table for him as he sat down. It was surprising that he had noticed. “It probably just caught up with you.”

Yamada nodded—that was true—his phone buzzing in his back pocket. He beamed upon seeing who it was, opening the message quickly.

_ From: Daiki  
_ _ As I promised. With a little extra, just because you complained about not being able to see my face._

There were two attachments. One was the photo they had taken and the other was only Daiki, giving him a cheesy grin.

“Yamada?” Keito asked hesitantly. Yamada realized then that he was smiling as his phone like an idiot—like the idiot he was—and after an attempt to compose himself, decided to tell Keito instead.

“It’s… Well… There’s this guy.”

Keito’s eyebrows shot up his forehead.

“A… Guy?”

“Yes.” Yamada said quickly. “He’s my makeup artist, and… I like him.”

Keito nodded a little, embarrassment flaring up inside Yamada like a forest fire.

“He’s cute okay?” He defended.

“Okay.” Keito grinned at him, and Yamada knew that if Keito was less timid and less kind of a person, there would be an incredible amount of teasing going on. Instead, Keito had this weird, almost knowing smile on his face, which nearly was worse.

“Shut up. I know someone with a crush on you.”

That reddened Keito’s face considerably, which made Yamada feel better, causing him to add

“Stop by work and I’ll introduce you, if you want.”

“I… Okay.”

Keito’s agreement was an exciting surprise, and Yamada could already see the expression on Yuto’s face when he told his friend the news, which made him smile. Then he turned to the much-too-stressful task of responding to Daiki’s text, and at some point during his concentration Keito went to bed, leaving him alone in the kitchen. He let himself smile stupidly at his phone, saving both of the photos to his camera roll and setting the one of himself and Daiki together as his background. Now he just had to never, ever, let Daiki touch his phone.


	7. Chapter 7

By the time he had actually finished eating and washing his dinner dishes it was close to midnight, and Yamada knew that the right thing to do was get ready for bed. He didn’t want to though; he wasn’t at all tired thanks to the nap he had taken earlier, and he did have another scene with Hikaru in the morning. A little practice couldn’t hurt.

A “little” practice ended up taking a lot of time. Not only was the scene longer, with more dialogue for him, but he kept getting distracted, his brain wandering--wandering to Daiki--and he had to start over. He didn’t notice the clock on the wall again until it was nearly four am, sighing to himself and getting to bed, knowing he was going to absolutely hate himself in the morning.  
He was right. He didn’t just feel tired; he felt weird, almost feverish and a little out of it as he went through his morning routine, the coffee not doing much to help.

“Yamada?” Daiki asked as he walked into his dressing room.

“I slept.” Yamada insisted without Daiki even asking. “I promise, I just… I don’t know.”

“You look exhausted.” Daiki said, frowning. “Stay here; don’t leave, and don’t fall asleep.”

“Okay.”

Daiki left the room, and while the “don’t leave” part of his request was easy, the “don’t fall asleep” part was much more difficult, and as a result Yamada didn’t quite know how long he sat there before the door opened again.

Daiki had a cup of coffee in his hands, heat rising from the top of it. He placed it down next to his brushes and foundation, telling Yamada to sit up.

“What? Okay.”

Daiki stepped close, cupping Yamada’s face in his hands, and suddenly Yamada was about four times more awake. Then Daiki clapped his palms against Yamada’s face, making his cheeks sting.

“Ouch! Did you just slap me?” Yamada asked, rubbing where Daiki had hit him.

“Only sort of.” Daiki responded, shrugging and handing the coffee over. He was smiling, making Yamada frown at him.

“I don’t think I like you anymore.”

That made Daiki laugh, running a hand through Yamada’s hair before getting his supplies ready to work on Yamada’s face. The coffee and the slap in the face did help, though Yamada couldn't truly tell how much; he managed to get through his scene with Hikaru a few times to Kenichi's satisfaction before the exhaustion returned at full force. He blinked hard, trying to shake it off as Kenichi started the scene again.

"Your teammates?" Hikaru roared at him. "Your mission? Which were you first Maeda Kouyou? An agent, or a brother?"

Yamada honestly couldn't remember if he had a line next or not, hanging his head and trying to think. Thankfully, Hikaru continued without waiting for him.

"And really, really..." Hikaru crouched in front of him, tipping his front chair legs forward, the back legs off the ground as he leaned Yamada’s face close to his own, Yamada kept from falling only by the ropes tying his body to the chair. "What will it matter, once my fingers have closed around your little brother's throat?"

Yamada knew he had a line now, Hikaru searching his face with expectant eyes, but Yamada knew he couldn't speak even if he tried, the world spinning before fading to black.

His body felt extremely heavy when he opened his eyes again, unable to muster enough energy to be surprised when Yuto's face was inches from his own.

"See!" Yuto exclaimed, making Yamada wince. He pulled back to look at Yabu, and Yamada noticed that most of his friends were crowded around the couch he was on. "I told you that if you stare at someone long enough they'll wake up. They can feel your eyes on them."

"He's awake?" Inoo asked, getting to his feet. "I'll go get Daiki."

"What happened?" Yamada asked, trying to sit up but deciding it wasn’t worth it, propping himself up on his elbows and trying to keep his eyes open.

"You passed out." Takaki answered.

"And then Hikaru was so surprised that he nearly dropped the chair. It's a good thing you were tied up, because otherwise you would have fallen on your face." Yabu finished, Hikaru protesting “I didn’t drop him though!”

"Mr. Okamoto called your roommate, and apparently you haven't been sleeping much. So he decided to let you sleep, and if you woke up soon, he wouldn’t take you to the hospital."

"Oh." Yamada blinked again, furrowing his eyebrows. “How… How long was I asleep?”

“It probably wasn’t more than four hours.” Chinen said dismissively. Yamada though, felt incredibly guilty for the time he had wasted and the worry he had caused. He was interrupted from his thoughts by a quick question from Yuto.

“So Yamada, before Daiki gets back… We were talking about this a moment before, and I’m the one who lost rock-paper-scissors, so I guess I’ll ask… Do you like him?”

“W-what?” Yamada laid back down, avoiding all of their eyes. “No. Don’t… Don’t be dumb. That’s dumb.”

Ryutaro was grinning ridiculously wide, but before he had time to further defend himself Daiki burst into the room, a thermos in his hand. He looked almost as though he had ran, worry on his face, but as soon as Yamada met his eyes he smiled, and Yamada had to smile back.

“Oh. My. God. Please.” Inoo sighed. “We need to let them have a moment. Yamada, Daiki made you some tea.”

“I did.” Daiki said, walking in as the rest of them filed out. “I was in here the whole time, but of course the moment I leave is when you decide to wake up.”

“It was completely intentional, I promise.” Yamada responded, pulling himself into a sitting position. Daiki handed the tea over, opening his mouth to speak, but Yamada knew what he was going to say before he even started, cutting him off.

"I know, I know, you were right, and I should have gotten more sleep, and--"

"I was actually going to say that I'm glad you didn't smash your face on the floor, but if I have the opportunity to say 'I told you so', then--"

"Shut up." Yamada told him, but Daiki was grinning, sitting in the chair next to him. "And... By that I mean thank you for the tea. Did I really pass out?"

"Yeah! It was so scary; Hikaru had just yelled at you, and then said his other line, and everyone was waiting and looking at you, and then your eyes rolled back in your head and your whole body just..." Daiki slumped forward, head hanging down. "Honestly, it sort of seemed like you died."

That made Yamada laugh a little, taking a drink.

"I need for find Mr. Okamoto, and apologize for wasting time."

"He's not mad at you." Daiki said quickly. "Plus, it wasn't a waste of time; he checked over some scenes and found one with Takaki, Chinen, and Yabu that he wasn't happy with. So they redid that instead. It's fine."

Though the assurance was appreciated, it didn't completely erase the guilt, especially when Daiki added

" I am mad at you."

"You are?" Yamada asked, glancing quickly up from the tea he was drinking.

"You terrified me! Find a proper bedtime, or I'm going to have to call you every night and sing you to sleep."

"That doesn't sound like a punishment."

"That's just because you haven't heard me sing."

Daiki smiled as Yamada laughed, Kenichi sticking his head in the door.

“Would you not mind actually doing that, Daiki?”

“I-I…” Daiki looked unsure of what to say, and Kenichi began to laugh.

“It was a joke! I’m kidding. Unless you want to.” He stepped in the room, sitting down next to Yamada on the couch. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry, too.”

“Don’t be! Is there anything in your personal life that we need to know? Anything stressing you out that you haven’t told myself or my son?”

The concern felt nice, if not extremely fatherly, Yamada shaking his head.

“No; I’m not doing anything right now except for this movie.”

Kenichi nodded to himself. “And you and Daiki want to change that, huh?”

It was all Yamada had not to spit a mouthful of tea all over his director, Daiki beet-red next to him. Kenichi burst into laughter again.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Again, unless you want to. Also, Yamada, we’re going to put finishing that scene with Hikaru on hold for a little bit, but there’s a short thing outside, at night, that we need to film. It’s going to be dark in a few minutes; do you mind staying and doing it?”

"Oh, of course not!" Yamada was just grateful of how understanding Kenichi was being, the four hour nap his body had obviously needed was leaving him feeling much more awake.

Night had fallen by the time his makeup was done and his costume was put on. Daiki had been mostly quiet while getting Yamada ready, pulling the blanket from the couch and wrapping it around his shoulders, sitting outside with the camera crew.

The scene itself didn't have any dialogue, instead just an action sequence of Yamada running and jumping and doing other various spy-esque things down an empty street. While Yamada wasn't sure what the footage was going to be used for, he had to admit that it was a fun. It was tiring too, Kenichi calling a cut after about twenty minutes. He had done it to check the footage, he said, but Yamada was pretty sure that at least part of it was to give him a moment to breathe.

"I need to get into shape." He confessed to Daiki, the makeup artist having beckoned him over to fix his hair.

"I think your current shape is fine." Daiki countered, ruffling Yamada's bangs with his fingers. Yamada raised an eyebrow.

"You know, I can never tell if you're actually doing something productive when you do this, or if it's just an excuse to mess my hair up."

"It might be a bit of both."

That made Yamada smile. "So, just to get this straight--are you, or are you not planning on singing me to sleep?"

"Not." Daiki answered. "Please, no."

"And..." Yamada honestly did not know how he managed to keep a straight face as he asked the next question. "What about that list of things I'm doing?"

It was Daiki's turn to raise an eyebrow, tucking some of Yamada's hair behind his ear. "That's not entirely up for me to decide, now is it?"

Yamada really was ready to kiss him then, in front of the entire camera crew and whoever else cared to see them, but Kenichi called for him and Daiki stepped away, pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders and gesturing to their director.

  
A lot of the scenes they filmed the next day did not have Yamada in them. It was a nice reprieve, for sure, but it would have been a lot less frustrating if he hadn't forgotten his script at home. After a couple hours of pacing and trying to recall his lines from memory, Yamada gave up and called Keito.

"Hello?" His roommate sounded surprised.

"Yeah, hi, are you home?"

"I don't have work today." A pause, then "Oh, I'm at home."

"We're going to have a lunch break soon, and I think I left my script on my bedside table... Would it be too much of a bother to bring it?"

"Sure. I was thinking about stopping by anyway, actually."

"Ooh, do you want to meet your fan? Hm?"

"I..."

"Hm?" Yamada could hear Keito's embarrassment.

"I was going to bring my dad some lunch. But, if you wouldn't mind..."

"Of course I'm going to introduce you." Yamada said with a laugh. "I wouldn't let you leave before I did."

They said their goodbyes, Yamada hanging up just as Kenichi called the scene for lunch. He found Yuto just as the cameraman got out his food, sitting next to him.

"What?" Yuto asked.

"What do you mean?" Yamada asked back, trying not to smile.

"What's with that look on your face?"

"Nothing! There's no look. It's just my face."

That made Yuto laugh, remembering something and beginning to tell a story. The tale was actually engrossing, Yamada momentarily forgetting that Keito was coming until Yuto froze, hitting Yamada hard on the arm.

"What the--oh."

Keito had just entered the room, looking hesitant, a bag in one hand and Yamada's script in the other.

"Oi! Keito!" Yamada called out, waving when Keito saw him.

"What are you doing?" Yuto hissed.

"What?" Yamada asked back, knowing how transparent the innocence in his tone sounded. "I accidentally left my script at home, so I asked my roommate to bring it for me."

"What?"

"Hey now, that's actually true."

Keito smiled when he saw Yamada, waving at them and walking over. He had a bag on one arm, the handles of it looped around his elbow, and paper in his other hand that Yamada assumed was his script. Yuto let out a stream of incomprehensible noises under his breath when he noticed Keito approaching, scrambling to his feet. Yamada stood as well, trying not to laugh at his friend’s reaction. Yuto stilled completely when Keito came to a stop in front of them, but his eyes were huge.

“Hey Keito, thank you for bringing this.” Yamada said, reaching out to take the papers being handed to him.

"Y-yeah, no problem."

Yamada clenched his teeth to stop himself from smiling. Keito was looking at Yuto, not him, and as a result the script nearly fell to the floor instead of being successfully passed to Yamada's hands. He pulled his eyes away when Yamada had to stoop to catch it and apologized, embarrassed.

"Keito, this is my friend Nakajima Yuto." Yamada gestured to Yuto, who waved a little, a weird, tiny giggle rising from his throat that made Yamada look at him and raise an eyebrow. Yuto didn't notice the glance though, eyes fixed on Keito still, who had a small smile on his face.

"Um... You two are just staring at each other."

That broke both of them out of it, Keito visibly jumping and redirecting his eyes to his feet. It was a stance that Yamada recognized—a conversation needed to be started.

“What a coincidence! Yuto, you like cameras, and Keito stands in front of them for a living. Talk about that.”

"I like cameras." Yuto blurted, Keito looking back up at him, the blush on his face fading. "I work with video cameras, but I really like photography. I have a camera collection at home."

"Oh, really?" Keito's voice was quiet. "I don't know much about cameras, really."

"Want me to show you how this one works?" Yuto asked excitedly, taking the handheld camera he was using that day, lunch completely forgotten. Keito nodded, smiling a little, Yuto beginning his explanation, his hand lingering a little on Keito’s own as he passed the equipment over. Keito smiled a little wider, looking nervous to be holding the camera, but Yuto gave him a little bit of assurance before he began pointing to knobs and buttons and Keito nodded back, attentive and engrossed. Yamada, unwilling to be a third wheel, went to look for somewhere else to sit.

He was really looking for Daiki, finding the makeup artist sitting in his dressing room, appearing to have dozed off. Yamada stepped close, leaning in, willing to try that ‘staring at someone until they wake up’ trick Yuto had talked about earlier. It didn’t work fast enough though, and despite how much he enjoyed looking at Daiki’s face, Yamada ended up poking him.

“Oh, hi.” Daiki blinked blearily, his sleepy eyes making Yamada smile a little. “What… What’s up?”

“Just lunch. Aren’t you hungry?”

Daiki shook his head, sitting up a little straighter. “I… Didn’t you go sit with Yuto?”

“Yeah, I did. But then Keito showed up, and they’re already in love with each other, so I figured it would be considerate to leave them alone for a while. Keito’s blushing and Yuto’s talking about cameras.”

“That’s better than talking about the magazines under his pillow, I guess.” Daiki said, then Yamada’s sentence registered a bit further and he got to his feet, steadying himself with a hand on Yamada’s shoulder. “Wait, Yuto’s model boyfriend is here? Now?”

Yamada nodded slowly, unsure of why he was asking.

“And we’re not spying on them?”

“Oh.” Yamada laughed, setting his lunch down. “We could, if you want.”

“No, no, you’re eating. Do that first.”

He complied, getting about six more bites in before Daiki became impatient and changed his mind.

“Can you can eat and eavesdrop at the same time?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional warning in this chapter for a joke about Yabu's butt

Unfortunately, by the time they made it back Yuto was standing alone, Keito over by his father, the two of them talking. They walked over to Yuto, Daiki calling out a greeting as they approached. He didn’t get a response, and when they saw his face, Yamada realized why.

Yuto was completely star stricken. His hands were clasped in front of his chest and he was just staring, though whether it was at Keito across the room or into the distance, Yamada couldn’t tell. Neither would have surprised him.

“So, that must have been a really, really good conversation about cameras.”

His voice snapped Yuto out of it, Daiki laughing as he started in surprise.

“I… Yeah. Yamada, he’s amazing.”

"Did you guys actually talk to each other?" Yamada asked, surprised when Yuto nodded. It had taken about two months for himself and Keito to have a genuine, good conversation, yet it had taken Yuto about ten minutes.

“He’s so cute, Yamada. He’s so soft spoken, and sweet, and I think I made him laugh a few times—I mean, they could have been sympathy laughs but I really feel like we clicked, and—”

“Yuto, I’m happy for you and all, but I think your lover boy is leaving.” Daiki cut in, pointing to the door. Sure enough, Keito was headed out, and Yuto ran after him, Yamada close on his heels.

“Wait! …wait.”

Keito did, looking equally confused and concerned as they both came to a stop in front of him.

“I… I really enjoyed talking to you, so… Could I have your phone number?” Yuto asked. Yamada was impressed by how plainly Yuto was going for it, cooing internally at the little smile on Keito’s face as he nodded. Once the exchange was complete and the two had stopped to grin at each other again, Yamada felt it was his turn to speak.

“Keito, you know how I promised to introduce you to that fan I told you about, the one that likes you?”

Keito nodded, and Yamada pointed in Yuto’s direction, raising an eyebrow.

“You told him about me?” Yuto squeaked out, just as Keito said “He’s the one that likes me?”

Silence. It was almost too awkward for Yamada to stand, but thankfully it didn’t last long.

“Yes!” Yuto declared, extremely pink in the face. “I… I like you. I might be out of line asking this, but… Maybe, would you like to get together sometime?”

Yamada was stunned, and the look on Keito’s face revealed that he was too, just staring as Yuto slowly shifted his weight from one foot to the other, waiting for a response.

“I… Yes. Okay. I would like that.”

Yuto beamed, and soon thereafter Keito was gone, still blushing as he walked out the door. Yamada clapped Yuto on the back, then reached up to put his arm around his friend’s shoulders.

“Wow. You saw the chance and you took it.”

Yuto nodded—he was smiling too much to speak properly, Yamada suspected.

“He is my precious roommate, you know. If you hurt him, I’ll have no choice but to kill you. And then tell his dad.”

His last sentence had Yuto paling considerably, and he was unable not to laugh.

Yamada didn’t have many scenes for the next two days, and the day after was a built-in off day. After he had slept in and laid around in bed as long as he could stand it, he got up and stumbled into the kitchen. Keito was already awake but that was no surprise, standing behind the stove. He didn’t notice Yamada come in until Yamada cleared his throat, Keito jumping nearly a foot in the air in surprise.

“Woah, sorry.” Yamada gave his roommate a hesitant smile, Keito waving his apology off. “So you don’t have work today?”

Keito shook his head, turning back to whatever it was he was making--something not Japanese, that was all Yamada could tell.

“Yeah, I have an off day today too.”

“Oh, do you want to go out?” Yamada asked. “Maybe go shopping or something?” They’d never done anything like that together, but Yamada had noticed Keito’s fashion sense over the years, and how similar is was to his own, that it could be fun.

Keito immediately looked apologetic. “I have plans…”

Yamada was disappointed for a moment, then realized what that must mean.

“With Yuto?”

Keito turned pink, and before he answered Yamada knew he must be right.

“Is it too soon?” Keito asked. “I don’t know. We’ve been texting each other a little, and he’s really nice--”

“And really handsome.” Yamada interjected. Keito nodded, his blush getting worse. “Well, what are you guys going to do?”

“Not anything too, you know, romantic.” Keito answered. “We’re getting food, and then going horseback riding.”

Yamada’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Have you ever ridden a horse?” He asked, Keito shaking his head. Then Keito’s phone went off, and he scrambled for it, completely abandoning his food to answer it.

“No, don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Keito said quickly. He was smiling, turned away from the burners, and Yamada’s eyes went wide as he saw the rubber spatula that was lying a little too close to the stove catching fire. “I like horses, and you said you’ll teach me, right?”

“Keito!” Yamada hissed. “Fire!”

“What?” Keito exclaimed, looking at his sleeves and his front, Yamada shaking his head and pointing to the stove, and the burning spatula. Keito let out a shout, Yamada getting up to help, hearing a surprised question on the other line. Keito looked extremely overwhelmed between talking to someone he liked and trying to extinguish a fire, so instead he wasn’t doing either, Yamada handing Keito a pair of metal tongs and taking the phone from his ear.

“Hi Yuto, Keito's trying to burn the house down so you’re going to have to wait a minute.”

“What? Yamada, is that you?”

Keito was holding the tongs now, the spatula dripping molten plastic onto the countertop.

“Put it in the sink!” Yamada exclaimed at him, Keito letting out a small, scared noise as he did as he was told. He turned on the faucet, cold water hissing and putting the fire out, leaving a warped piece of red plastic in the sink. They looked down at the spatula together glancing at each other and laughing. Keito put his hand over his face, mumbling out an apology through giggles, Yamada’s knees weakening, unable to smile every time he looked at the bubbled mess the fire had caused.

“Hello?” Yuto asked, sounding hesitant. “Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine.” Yamada told him. “Keito will tell you all about it.” Then he passed the phone back over, letting Keito say what happened, getting some breakfast from the fridge as he listened to Keito, still smiling, tell the story. Once it was all said and done, with both of them having eaten and the spatula in the trash, Keito asked Yamada for help on what to wear. Yamada had never been horseback riding, and nor was it on his list of things to do, but he was satisfied by the time there was a fast knock on the door that Keito definitely looked like boyfriend material.

Keito gave him a nervous little smile before pulling the door open, Yuto standing there, his face betraying both nervousness and excitement. He too was dressed incredibly well, Yamada had to admit, and they stood there, taking each other in as Yamada tried his hardest to keep a straight face.

“You look really nice.” Keito said, the last few words fading into a mumble as he stumbled through the beginning. Yuto beamed at the compliment, and Yamada bit his tongue to keep from cooing at them.

“You do too; are you ready to go?” Yuto asked, and after a confirming nod from Keito and a wish of fun from Yamada, they were out the door.

This off day was Yamada's opportunity to turn things around. The need to fix his habits, especially when it came to practicing and sleeping, were obvious, pointed out harshly by his collapse on set, and he knew that though he needed to practice as much as he had been, he needed to sleep more, too. He got dressed for the day, wanting to buy stuff for dinner and a new spatula before the sun went down, trying to work out when he was supposed to fit in practicing if not the middle of the night. It still wouldn’t be a bad thing to at least look over his script after dinner; going through a scene or two a few times wasn’t going to hurt. Any down time he had needed to be focused on the movie, on learning his lines, going over his reactions and his movements. He could practice at work, whenever he wasn’t filming, and at home before bed but in exchange he had to focus. He couldn’t allow himself any distractions, especially those shaped like Arioka Daiki.

Unfortunately for him, distraction had turned into Daiki’s middle name. The day after his resolution to stick to himself and his script, Daiki found him right before their lunch break was called.

“You didn’t bring any lunch, did you?”

“I… No.” He’d planned on just getting some ramen from a vending machine and spending his lunch in an empty break room, going over the scene he had run the night before. “Why? What’s up?”

“I was making food last night, and I made too much, so I was thinking maybe you’d want some?”

“Oh.” Yamada tried to remind himself of the “no distractions” pact he had made, but it didn’t seem to matter much, not when compared to the hopeful expression on Daiki’s face. He was rewarded with a smile when he agreed, and they returned to his makeup room together, greeted with a bento box so big that Yamada barely felt that it was allowed to be labeled as such anymore, stuffed with food.

“You made all this?” He asked, amazed.

“Well, most of it.” Daiki allotted, handing Yamada a pair of chopsticks. “Some of it is leftovers. It’s all good though, I promise.”

“I believe you.” Yamada said, laughing a little. They sat facing each other on the floor, Daiki placing the food between them. Daiki was right, and the food was good, but that wasn’t the part that made the lunch his favorite in a long time; it was the comical way Daiki would pause chewing to think, and the fierce battle over the last piece of chicken, and the way Daiki would rest his chopsticks against his bottom lip when something Yamada said would amuse him enough to give a little laugh. It made him stare, just for a moment, and had him extremely pleased that there was only one month of movie filming left. He had already resolved that he wasn’t doing anything about his feelings for Daiki until the movie was over, and though every morning and evening in the makeup chair had him regretting his decision, he knew it was one he had to stick to.

As a follow-up to the surprisingly enjoyable day out together--Keito’s words, not Yamada’s own, though Yamada suspected the “surprising” had more to do with the element of horses and less with the company--Keito would often interrupt his script readings to ask how to reply to a text from Yuto. The texts were never anything to worry about in Yamada’s eyes, finally having to ask what worried Keito so much.

“What’s wrong? I thought that you, I don’t know, liked him.”

“I do, it’s just… I’ve… I don’t know, never had a fan before.”

“Keito.” Yamada said, setting his script down in his lap. “Don’t treat him like a fan. Treat him like a friend. He wants to be your friend.”

Keito nodded, frowning at his phone as he typed out a reply. It felt like good advice though, considering the way Keito showed up to work the next morning. It was under the pretense giving his dad a quick visit, but the way the smoothie Keito carried in somehow ended up in Yuto’s hands by the time he had left had Yamada thinking otherwise.

Scenes had become more individual instead of all of them together, due to the happenings of the plot; all of the agents were split up, and as a result, Yamada had more alone time. He tried to use it to read over his script, getting Yuto to help him when the cameraman wasn’t busy. Yuto made things fun, but, unfortunately, made it easy to become side-tracked.

“Are Yabu and Hikaru in a relationship?” Yuto asked him in the middle of a scene, lowering his script a little.

“I’m going to stop you from--wait, what?” Yamada was halfway through his line when he realized that Yuto had said.

“Sorry, that’s not the next line, but I was just thinking about it.”

Yamada wanted to answer with yes, but when thinking about it he realized he didn’t know. They were close, for sure, even living together, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

“I don’t know, actually. I feel like they are.”

“Me too. We need to find some proof. Who’s filming right now?”

“Chinen. And Takaki.”

Yuto grinned, getting up from his seat, leaving his script behind as he crept from the room, Yamada following.

“Time for spy mode. Look, I’m you.” Yuto whispered, tiptoeing exaggeratedly down the hallway, pressing himself flat against the wall and peering around any corners before turning them. Yamada had to laugh at that, following suit, feeling extremely ridiculous as he did so. There was really no need for it--no one was in the hallways, not that they probably would need to hide--so it was quite embarrassing when a voice from behind them asked

“Um… What’re you guys doing?”

It was Inoo and Daiki, Yuto turning and tiptoeing in their direction, giving the answer in a loud whisper as Yamada laughed.

“We’re on a stealth mission.”

“Ooh, can I come?” Inoo asked, raising up his arms and one leg, imitating Yuto’s creeping pose. Giggling a little, Yuto nodded, the two of them leading the way as Daiki fell in step with Yamada, coming up behind him and putting an arm around his shoulders.

“Where are we going?” He asked. Yamada shook his head.

“No idea.” He answered, Daiki laughing a little at that as Yuto turned around, hushing them with a finger over his lips. He had found Yabu and Hikaru; they were in Yabu’s dressing room, the door cracked open. Yamada slipped out from under Daiki arm, ducking under Yuto’s chin to peek with him, immediately feeling like he shouldn’t have.

Yabu was in Hikaru’s lap, Hikaru’s hands holding him there, slow and quiet murmurs heard between kisses. Yuto pulled back from the door so fast that he ran into Inoo, the two crashing to the floor in a mess of limbs.

“...what?” Was all Daiki said, raising an eyebrow at the two on the floor and glancing at Yamada for explanation. “What's in there? A lion?”

“Just Hikaru and Yabu.” Yamada answered. “We were wondering if they were dating, and um… They definitely are.”

“Of course they are.” Inoo said, picking himself up off the ground and peering in the room. “Man, whenever I see Hikaru grabbing Yabu’s ass like that I almost forget he doesn’t have one.”

Then a water bottle came flying from the room, hitting Inoo square in the face, and they all ran.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional warning for someone getting honest-to-god stabbed in the chest. That is not a joke.

The last day of filming came earlier than any of them expected. Yamada was definitely excited about it, ready to break from his schedule of nothing but rehearsing, filming, eating, and sleeping, the small breaks he managed to get with his friends on set, or talking to Keito after work not quite being enough. He was nervous, too, about the movie being over. He wasn’t afraid of the scene they were shooting, having worked with Hikaru enough by now to know what to expect. He had told himself that once the movie was wrapped up, he had to tell Daiki how he felt. He couldn’t take the casual compliments and lingering glances any longer and not do anything about them. He wasn’t sure, really, what he was going to say, but he was confident enough that he would be able to at least get his point across.

He began the day with Keito, the model having asked off work to be on set with them, the two of them showing up together. It was a little insulting, how much more excited Yuto’s greeting to Keito was, but Yamada decided not to take it too personally, grinning instead at the hug Yuto ran up to receive.

He was getting a little scraped up for the scene he was in, much to Daiki’s delight. It wasn’t actually the last scene of the movie--that had been filmed about a week ago--but the scene in which his teammates rescued him from The Imposter’s clutches, with Takaki’s character Moriya Jiro getting stabbed in the process. Inoo had given Hikaru a fun fake knife with a retractable blade three days previously, and he had since stabbed everyone with it at least twice. A real knife had to be used up until Takaki was stabbed, the props being switched out behind camera during one of Yamada’s lines. Kenichi had placed extreme emphasis on getting the props changed, and his insistence almost made Yamada nervous.

Takaki wasn’t nervous at all though, taking a flying leap in front of Yamada every time they did the shot. The scene was a change of heart, Takaki’s character risking his life for Yamada’s. He had done it six times before frowning Kenichi called a cut.

“It isn’t bad.” He said, Yamada wincing a little. That introduction always meant there was a good amount of constructive criticism coming their way.

“The surprise isn’t very real.” Kenichi told them. “Yamada, this man, who’s getting stabbed in the abdomen for you, has barely spoken to you. You think he hates you but he doesn’t, and this is when you find out. Hikaru, you’re waiting until Takaki moves to try to stab Yamada, which is giving the scene a weird pause. Let me show you.”

He stepped up on set, Hikaru backing up to observe. After asking everyone if they were ready. Yamada nodded, seeing Takaki do the same in the corner of his eye, but then Kenichi roared out Hikaru’s “Then you’ll have to die!” and lunged forward, and it was so surprising that neither of them were ready at all. The result was a bit of a mess; Takaki, surprised, jumped too late, crashing into Kenichi’s forearm and missing the foam on the ground, hitting the wood instead. Yamada took a quick step back, Kenichi opening his mouth in shocked concern.

“You said you were ready!” He exclaimed, kneeling down to look Takaki over. “Are you alright?”

Takaki coughed out a laugh, nodding and pulling himself up into a sitting position. “I… Yeah. Sorry Yamada, you almost died just then.”

“So did you.” Yamada answered, getting laughter in response as he extended a hand down to help Takaki up. The actor took it, on his feet as Hikaru walked back up to them.

“Do you see what I mean?” Kenichi asked. Hikaru didn’t answer, so the director explained.

“You don’t look like you’re trying to stab Yamada, you look like you’re trying to stab Takaki, since you know that’s what's going to happen. Actually go for Yamada. Make Takaki work for it.”

“Yes sir.” Hikaru said, Kenichi nodding and walking off set. They decided to only film the action sequence, all of the talking in the beginning already achieved well enough. Hikaru picked up his kinfe, setting his shoulders and readying himself. He set his shoulders, tightening his grip on the weapon and fixing Yamada with a look.

“Action!”

“Then you’ll have to die!” Hikaru lunged forward, directly at him, eyes wild. Yamada couldn’t help himself, taking a step away from his co star, Takaki jumping in between them. The knife met its mark, Hikaru’s eyes going wide as he let the hilt go, Yamada realizing why a second later. The blade was supposed to retract into the hilt at the slightest pressure, so as to not do any damage, but it was stuck firmly under Takaki’s ribs, and the blood seeping between the actor's fingers was very real.

“Hesitating the way you did was a stupid mistake.” Takaki groaned out. It was his line, his actual line, Yamada’s mouth falling open a little. Takaki had been stabbed, actually stabbed, and he felt he needed to do something, getting to his knees next to him and feeling a little panicked.

“And cut!” Kenichi said happily. “All of your reactions were excellent! That’s a wrap!”

“Are you okay?” Yamada asked. It was a dumb question, admittedly, but it was the only one he could think of, Takaki shaking his head, his teeth gritted. Yamada told Hikaru to call an ambulance, the man patting down his costume for his phone before realizing he didn’t have it, running off set.

“What’s going on?” Kenichi asked, walking over. Takaki was bleeding all over his clothes, the director stopping in his tracks when he saw it. Then he froze, looking down, seeing the fake knife in his hands. He let out a stream of curses and apologies, looking as helpless as Yamada felt. Everyone had begun to crowd around now, gasps and murmurs traveling through. Hikaru reappeared, jogging back over.

“I called, an ambulance is coming, I am so, so sorry--”

Takaki just shook his head, looking as though he wanted to dismiss the apology Hikaru was giving him, but it didn’t quite work, “...hurts…” being the only audible word out of his mouth. After what seemed like forever, the ambulance arrived, all of them assured that the wound wasn’t too serious as Takaki was driven away.

Thanks to the incident though, it took a few days for the fact that the movie was over to really sink in. The scene hadn’t really felt like an ending, with no celebration of any kind. There had, apparently, been a party planned, but Keito told Yamada that night that Kenichi was now pushing it back until Takaki was discharged from the hospital.  
He hadn’t confessed to Daiki either. It had completely left his mind, really only worried about Takaki and Hikaru, even after the ambulance had driven away. The stabbing was all anyone really talked about that day, Daiki wanting a play by play of what had actually happened, and then they’d all gone either home, or to the hospital. There were profuse apologies from Hikaru, Kenichi, and the props crew, but Takaki wasn’t really angry at anyone about it, even giving Kenichi permission to use the footage if it was the best that they had.

Unfortunately though, Yamada had completely lost his nerve to tell Daiki how he felt. There was absolutely no reason not to, not anymore--the movie was over for him, now in the hands of the post production team, and it would be easy to text or call him up, for lunch or dinner or something. It would be great to see him, especially since all Yamada had been doing was a lot of nothing at home, but now he was nervous. He had the suspicion that Daiki liked him, and when they were together it certainly felt that way, but a few days on his own had him wondering if maybe he’d imagined at least some of it, bringing down the confidence he’d had in his confession.

A little less than a week had passed when Yamada’s phone went off. He was in the middle of getting ready for bed, brushing his teeth, but caller ID said ‘Daiki’ and he scrambled, trying in a hurry to be able to speak.

“Hello?”

“Hey.”

“What’s up?”

“Oh, I just wanted to make sure you’re going to sleep at a reasonable time. You have a history of not quite doing that sometimes.”

Yamada laughed, unable not to smile at the sound of Daiki’s voice. “Here to sing me to sleep?” He asked. Daiki just laughed back.

“Well, don’t worry, I was about to get in bed. I was brushing my teeth when you called.”

“Oh, good.” There was a pause, Yamada caught between wondering if Daiki had something else he was calling about and trying to think of a new topic when Daiki spoke again.

“Takaki was discharged this evening.”

“Really?” That was great news, Yamada saying so.

“Yeah. I mean, they did tell us when they took him to the hospital that it wasn’t a serious wound, and I knew they were right, but in the movie The Imposter shanks Takaki’s character between the ribs, so that’s always what the injury was like in my head. It’s a good thing Hikaru missed.”

“A really good thing.” Yamada agreed, flopping down on his bed. “That would’ve been a pretty terrible way to end the movie.”

Daiki laughed. “I don’t know if we would’ve been able to air it, if, I don’t know, Takaki died or something. Isn’t that like… A snuff film?”

“I’m not quite sure that’s the same thing.” Yamada rolled over on his back, eyes on the ceiling. “That would have been a lot of your face powder wasted.”

“It was wasted anyway. You didn’t need it.” Daiki responded. “It’s weird that I’m not doing your makeup anymore. I don’t like it.”

“I know, how am I supposed to get my eyebrows perfect for the party?” Yamada asked, making Daiki laugh at him. “We are still having one, right? I know Kenichi talked about it, but I haven’t heard anything since.”

“It’s tomorrow night.” Daiki answered. “Or, it should be if Takaki’s up for it. I’m sure Kenichi will send out a reminder.”

“Yeah.”

Silence fell again, longer this time, Yamada sensing that the conversation was over.

“I’m in bed now, so you don’t have to worry.”

There was a smile in Daiki’s voice as he responded. “Good. You’ll need that beauty sleep.”

“Hey!”

“Kidding.” Daiki chuckled a little. “See you tomorrow, Ryosuke.”

“I… Yeah. See you.”

The call ended, Yamada pulling the phone away from his ear and staring at his phone screen. At the picture of the two of them together. Tomorrow at the party was his chance.

Sure enough, the next morning there was a notification from Kenichi on his phone. The event was that evening, and over breakfast Yamada found out that Keito had been invited too. That made getting ready more fun though, helping each other dress to impress. Keito turned down Yamada’s offer to style his hair, but in the end Yamada was unable to resist touching at least a few strands.

They ended up being a little late, with the food, drinks, and most of the guests already there when they arrived. There was loud music and a dance floor too, though Yamada doubted their guest of honor would want to do much dancing.

“You’re here!” Kenichi greeted them at the door, giving hugs to them both. “A few people were about to start calling you two.”

“We had to make sure we looked good, sir.” Yamada said, Kenichi’s upbeat attitude not giving him the need to sound too apologetic.

“Well, you did a great job. Go say hi to everyone.”

There was a huge crowd around Takaki so that’s where they went first, Yamada slipping in between people to go up and talk to him.

“How are you?”

“Been better.” He confessed, an easygoing smile on his face. “I saved your life, so I guess it was worth it.”

Yamada laughed, nodding, about to thank him when Takaki waved a hand.

“I’m kidding. I’m fine.” He sat up a little straighter, then pulled himself to his feet. “Want to come with me to get something to drink?”

This was the first time Takaki had really spoken to him and Yamada wanted it to last as long as possible, nodding quickly and following Takaki to the table with the drinks.

“I, uh… I don’t know if you know this, but it’s not the first time I’ve almost died. When I was younger, my family went to my grandfather’s house for a housewarming party, and…”

Takaki proceeded to tell him a story about himself falling off the roof of the house, getting punch for himself and Yamada as he spoke. Yamada was quite unsure of what was happening, pleasantly surprised but still confused, not quite realizing until near the end of the tale why Takaki had began telling it in the first place. Sharing a personal experience--making friends. Yamada wanted to reciprocate, but he didn’t have any tales quite as miraculous. That didn’t seem to matter though; Takaki was incredibly friendly, and Yamada felt bad for being taken aback he was by it.

“You did fantastic in your role, by the way.” Takaki said, refilling his glass and giving Yamada a smile. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you until now.”

“Thank you.”

“Nakajima Yuto!” A shout rang through the room, the familiar shout of Okamoto Kenichi, and the entire room fell silent, looking around for the cameraman in question. He was standing on the outskirts of the dance floor with Keito, and it looked like the two of them had been talking, but they weren’t anymore.

“Yes?” Yuto squeaked, no attempt made to mask the fear in his voice as Kenichi began walking, his pace quick, in their direction.

“It has come to my attention that you have taken a romantic interest in my son.”

“Y-yes sir.” Yuto answered, face darkening in color, not daring to break eye contact.

Kenichi’s tone and gaze were stern, Yamada extremely glad he had never been on the receiving end of that look.

“Well, when you ask him to go steady with you, or whatever term you kids are using these days--and don’t deny it, I’ve been told all about that necklace in your pocket--” Yuto’s hand went immediately to his pants pocket, the action so fast it was incriminating “--I sincerely hope he says yes.”

“...what?”

None of them had been expecting that, Yuto least of all, his face nothing but unchecked surprise. Kenichi smiled, placing a hand on Yuto’s shoulder.

“I like you, Yuto. I trust you. If he wants you to, make him as happy as you can.”

“I will, sir.”

“Good.”

Keito was just as embarrassed as Yuto was, his body still, his face bright red. It took a few moments for the room to go back to the chatter it had before, the restart of the music helping, Yamada torn between going to talk to them and leaving them alone when someone grabbed his arm.

“There you are!” It was Daiki, spinning him around and hugging him. “When did you get here?”

“Not too long ago.” Yamada answered, feeling like the smile on his face was so obvious it was painful. “You?”

“Well, earlier than you.” Daiki set his cup down, nodding his head to a less populated corner of the room. “Can we talk? I have a question.”

“Sure.” Yamada said a quick farewell to Takaki and followed, wondering if he should be worried. “What is it?”

Once they’d reached the corner of the room Daiki spun around, so quick it was surprising, letting out a fast breath before speaking.

“Why didn’t you kiss me during the movie filming?”

“...what?”

“I mean… You can tell I like you, right?”

Yamada could feel himself blushing. Daiki, too, was pink in the face, but his eyes were holding Yamada’s own, waiting and watching for an answer. He had told himself he would confess to Daiki at the party, though he’d never gone into the when’s or how’s of the situation, this time was good--and maybe even better--than any.

“I like you too, actually.”

All the tension drained from Daiki’s face, being replaced by a smile that had Yamada’s stomach flipping over.

“I thought you might. I hoped so. Inoo said we were so obvious that if we don't have some kind of weird sex in the closet during this party he's going to take Hikaru's knife and stab himself in the eye.”

“Does it have to be _weird_ sex?”

Daiki burst into laughter, shaking his head as he did, and Yamada couldn’t help but laugh a little too as he took in the complete amusement and joy on Daiki’s face, the laughter calming into a smile and Yamada not resisting anymore, leaning forward to capture Daiki’s lips with his own.

“Come on.” Yamada murmured, covering Daiki’s face in light kisses as the makeup artist tried to squirm away, still half asleep. “You promised.”

“But it’s early…” Daiki groaned, rolling on his back and squinting his eyes open. Yamada took the opportunity to finally give his boyfriend a real good morning kiss, happy that Daiki seemed at least a little more awake when he pulled away.

“But you promised.” Yamada said again, Daiki sighing and sitting up, giving him a bleary-eyed glance, the covers falling to his waist.

“Fine.”

Yamada kissed him again, Daiki muttering something about “too cute for your own good” as he walked off to get his makeup kit, seeming to not much care if Keito saw him in his underwear. The post-production for the movie was over, and today was the official release, Yamada asking if Daiki would do his makeup for all the press he was going to have to face today. Once the offer of sleeping over had also been given, it hadn’t taken much convincing.

It was nostalgic in the best way as Yamada sat down in his desk chair, Daiki flitting around him, humming or bringing up something small as he worked. Before long at all Daiki stopped, saying

“Alright, you’re done.”

Yamada opened his eyes, met with Daiki’s face inches from his own, the makeup artist closing the gap for a quick kiss.

“You’d better get ready.”

“Thank you.”

Yamada hurried to the bathroom to do his hair and change, and when he emerged Keito and Daiki were in the kitchen in their pajamas together, each with a mug of coffee in each hand, their conversation coming to a pause when he walked in.

“Alright, I’m heading out.” He reported.

“Good luck!” Keito said. “Say hello to my dad for me.”

Daiki walked him to the door, wrapping him up in a hug.

“You look amazing, and you’re going to be great today. Go get ‘em, tiger.”

Yamada chuckled, tilting his forehead to Daiki’s own. The makeup artist beamed back, and a kiss or two later, Yamada was out the door.


End file.
